‘My heart just sank’: Priest who officiated at several A5 funerals speaks of devastation at latest deaths

Kamile Vaicikonyte and Jamie Moore who died on the A5

Fr Roland Colhoun

Julia McSorley

thumbnail: Kamile Vaicikonyte and Jamie Moore who died on the A5
thumbnail: Fr Roland Colhoun
thumbnail: Julia McSorley
Kurtis Reid

A priest who led the funerals of two people killed on the A5 has told how his “heart sank” after he learned of the latest tragedies on the road.

Fr Roland Colhoun, of Ardstraw East and Newtownstewart parish, said the deaths of Kamile Vaicikonyte and Jamie Moore had caused fresh sadness in the local community, which he described as having been “engulfed in grief”.

He added: “My heart sank when I heard the news. It’s just unimaginable.

“The A5 is our area’s connection to the rest of the country. Anyone who dies on it could be someone from this area. That’s what’s really heartbreaking.

“You hear about one of these deaths. The clip on the radio or news [will say something] like ‘Travelling up from Dublin’, and you’ll think, ‘It’s not going to be anyone I know. It’s miles away’.

“But then you hear it’s this road and you realise it could be someone very close to you.”

Julia McSorley

Fr Colhoun led the funerals of Julia McSorley (73) last year and 23-year-old Caoimhe O’Brien in 2016.

Ms McSorley died alongside her niece and nephew, Dan (53) and Christine McKane (49), in an accident near Aughnacloy as they travelled home from a funeral in England. Ms O’Brien, meanwhile, died following a collision between Londonderry and Strabane.

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Fr Colhoun said: “When I did the funeral of Ms McSorley, she was 75 years old, still full of life, still active, a great person. She didn’t die comfortably in bed, like many people should. Instead, she was taken in this tragic way.

“The term I used at both funerals was ‘engulfed by grief’. It couldn’t have been more true, and now it’s true today.

“We were [left] broken-hearted by both of the deaths. To die in a traffic accident is awful.”

Fr Colhoun also said people were “tired” of dealing with the pain caused by A5 deaths.

“The road is filled with people coming back from work — tradesmen coming back and forth, buses — but I know it’s those travelling in cars [who are dying],” he added.

“The community is tired. It’s the only way of putting it. Very tired.

“I know my colleagues are tired of performing funerals [for people] taken like this.

“I’m just back from a funeral of a 90-year-old woman who died peacefully. That’s the death we all want.”