INTIMIDATION CLAIM:THE SISTER of a man shot dead four years ago by a former member of the Provisional IRA has linked an attack on her car parked outside her home to her decision to run in the local elections.
Esther Uzell’s brother Joseph Rafferty was shot dead outside his apartment in Ongar, west Dublin, in April 2005. Ms Uzell is running in the Dublin South East constituency.
In the early hours of Monday morning Ms Uzell’s car was vandalised outside her home in the south inner city by a group of men with batons. All of the windows in the car were smashed and concrete blocks were dropped on the front of the vehicle. Ms Uzell believes the group responsible were acting for the former IRA man suspected of murdering her brother.
“This intimidation has been happening for as long as we’ve been campaigning for justice for Joe. It is the same family that are adamant they are going to keep at us.”
Garda sources have confirmed that the vandalism took place.
Ms Uzell says she is now running for Dublin City Council to highlight what she sees as the inaction of the republican movement, including Sinn Féin, in helping gardaí solve her brother’s murder.
The mother-of-four is also running to seek improvements to the health and childcare systems. Joseph Rafferty, a 28-year-old father-of-one, had become embroiled in a dispute with a former member of the IRA in the months leading up to his murder. The Rafferty family and the suspect are all originally from Dublin’s south inner city.
The suspect’s partner has a number of sons who beat up two young members of Mr Rafferty’s family five years ago. When Mr Rafferty challenged them they threatened him he would be “got” by the IRA.
Ms Uzell reported the threats to Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan, who she is now running against. She said Mr Doolan assured her the people involved had been spoken to and that the matter had been resolved. However, on April 12th, 2005, Mr Rafferty was shot dead.
Mr Doolan has always said that any threat to Mr Rafferty was never reported to him.
He has also said Sinn Féin is not a police force and that any criminal matters should be reported to the gardaí.
Mr Doolan has condemned the murder and encouraged anybody with information to assist gardaí.
However, Ms Uzell said she will be using her campaign to highlight the fact that Sinn Féin and others in the republican movement have the power to deliver information to gardaí which would solve her brother’s murder.