A heartbroken mother has told how she “died inside” the day she found out her son had been brutally murdered and discarded.
Eoin O’Connor and his friend Anthony Keegan were both found shot dead and tied together in a shallow grave on Inchicup Island, Lough Sheelin, Co Meath, in April 2014.
Eoin’s mother Jean O’Connor has revealed her heartache in a new crime documentary set to air on Virgin Media One tonight.
Gardai believe Eoin, 32, and 33-year-old Anthony were minor criminals and worked as debt collectors for a drug gang based in North Dublin.
Jean said: “He [Eoin] had two children, a bit reserved but a very good son and was very good to me.
“I just loved him so much and he was the same with me.
“He went off with his friend Anthony, I wasn’t aware of where they went.
“It wasn’t like him to go missing off the radar like that and not be in touch.
"Things didn’t seem right and my other two sons were trying to protect me, not to let me know but it didn’t work out that way.
“We thought maybe he’d come back, that didn’t happen.”
The two pals disappeared after travelling in Jean’s car to Co Cavan and it is believed they were shot dead after attempting to recover a drug debt.
She said: “I died inside that day, shocked. You couldn’t explain it.”
The distraught mother was dealt another blow when her brother-in-law Noel Kirwan, a friend of Gerry “The Monk” Hutch, was gunned down days before Christmas in 2016.
Gardai believe Mr Kirwan had no involvement in criminality and he was killed because he was photographed with the crime godfather at a funeral.
Jean said: “He was such a good friend to me, he was murdered. Senseless.”
- Inside Ireland’s Gangland: The Next Generation is on Virgin Media One tonight at 10pm.
.png?w=600)
