Belgian assault victim buried

"Rest peacefully now in Ireland," read an unsigned wreath at the burial of Belgian national, Mr Walter van Dael (42), in Ennis yesterday.

After lying in a Limerick morgue for more than two weeks, Mr van Dael's body was finally laid to rest before a small group of people on a grey autumnal day at Drumcliffe cemetery on the outskirts of the town. Mr van Dael died after sustaining head injuries when he was attacked at an Ennis tourist hostel on July 26th. A local 23-year-old man has been charged with his murder.

He was buried in Ennis, where he had worked as a tiler for two months. His family had declined to reclaim his body for burial in his home city of Antwerp. No member of his family was present at the funeral. His brother, Rudy, flew into Ireland on Tuesday to formally identify his body at Limerick Regional Hospital morgue. He travelled back to Belgium on an early flight yesterday morning.

At the cemetery, Supt Gerry Kelly and Sgt Joe O'Brien of Ennis Garda station, along with cemetery staff and a local undertaker, carried Mr van Dael's coffin the short distance from the hearse to the graveside.

At the graveside, before offering prayers and blessing the coffin, Father Gerry Carey asked those present "to consider for a moment his family who are not here and who are wondering what is happening. During that quiet moment let us ask that God of ours to welcome Walter and find a place for him."

One of the mourners, a local man, commented after the brief service: "It was the least we could do, turning up here today."

One other wreath at the graveside, also unsigned, read "The Late Walter van Dael. From a Limerick family." Garda sources said Mr van Dael's brother visited the cemetery on Tuesday evening to see where his brother would be buried. It is understood Mr Van Dael was separated from his wife. He is also survived by his parents.

Clare County Council will pay the estimated £1,000 bill for the burial.