FOR the Poland family, the Christmas period was once again torn with heartache, as the festive period injected fresh memories of how an innocent life was cruelly taken by a gang of armed robbers.
Sean Poland, who was known to his friends and family as a ‘gentle giant’, was ringing in the New Year ten years ago, when he was shot dead by armed and masked raiders who broke into his house looking for cash.
The gang left with a few thousand euro.
Sean’s partner, Joanne Joyce, from Castleconnell, was tied up by the gang but left unharmed.
She ran to a neighbour’s house but it was too late for Sean, (39). He died in the front hall of his home, located in the peaceful rural setting of Blackwater, Ardnacrusha, Co Clare.
As his devastated family prepared to mark the tenth anniversary of his brutal murder on December 31, Sean’s brother Ray, made a direct appeal to those with information about the killing.
“I would say to them, please come forward with any information, no matter how little they think it is, come forward with it, and they’d never know what it could do,” he said speaking at his home, which stands a few hundred yards from where Sean was gunned down.
“What they’ll be doing for us, if they come forward, is that they’ll be giving us closure to something that we’ve lived with for the last ten years,” he said speaking from his home, located only a few hundred yards from where Sean was gunned down.
Ray (47), paused and said: “They’ll be putting our minds at ease, you know…that we actually found out what happened and why it happened. To this day, we don’t really know why it happened. We know how he died but we don’t know for what or why. You live with that for ten years…it’s a long time.”
The heartbroken father of three said he thinks of Sean’s murder most days.
“No, it doesn’t get any easier. It’s there all the time, no matter what you do…anytime of the year really. It’s there in your mind everyday.”
Sean Poland was a happy-go-lucky man, who was a bricklayer by trade but who had also built up a steady business from his home, fixing and selling on second-hand cars.
“Sean was a brickie like myself, but, he loved the cars. He loved wheeling and dealing with cars and fixing cars. If anybody was stuck for a car, he’d give them a car. It wasn’t a thing where you had to pay him there and then either. No one was ever stuck when Sean was around,” his devastated brother explained.
“Sean was a lovely guy. I don’t think he had a bad bone in his body. He was a normal guy. He was never in trouble in his life,” he added.
Gardaí said Sean had no involvement in criminality whatsoever, and was an innocent victim of a robbery gone wrong. The main suspect for the killing is a Limerick criminal who has served jail time for another unrelated murder.
Sean’s shocking killing featured last month on RTE’s Crimecall, which brought back all the horror of the night of his death to his heartbroken family.
Ray and his older brother Liam, along with their sister Marie hope that as a result they will find the answers they have long searched for.
“Well, in the last six or seven years there has been no updates. We thought it had been ‘put on the back burner’ so to speak. Marie has done a few different appeals and I have been up and down to Mayorstone garda station, but the case is just open and ongoing. There has been no major developments as such, it’s just ongoing,” a dejected Ray explained.
“We’re just hoping that this might stir someone’s memory or someone’s conscience might come at them,” Ray added.
He has special praise for Garda Superintendent Frank O’Brien who has tried his best to keep the Poland’s up to date with the ongoing garda probe.
“Frank is very good, and he has rang me a couple of times. He has been dealing with Marie most of the time anyway. He has been very good to be fair to him,” said Ray.
“They’re saying there’s one part of the jigsaw that they just can’t get and they haven’t got the proof to get it. They’re just hoping that, with the Crimecall thing, it might just jog someone’s memory or get at someone’s conscience and hopefully they might come forward,” said Ray.
“That’s what we want – for someone to come forward. Someone does know out there. I know that and Marie knows that. All the family knows that. All we want is for that person to do the right thing so that we can get closure to something that should never have happened.”
Ray said he wants closure mostly for his elderly father Anthony who is holding out for justice.
“My dad is 92 years of age and he never stops talking and thinking about it. It’s on his mind the whole time and it’s not doing him any good either. We all want closure for him, as much as ourselves, so that he can put it to rest.”
Sean’s murder was the second tragedy to hit Ray and his siblings. His mother Mary, known as Molly, died from cancer in 1997 at the age of 62.
As they try to come to terms with their loss, the family visited Molly and Sean’s graves on Christmas Day in the hope that someone somewhere will end their 10-year nightmare.
For now, Ray will continue to pray to his slain brother everyday to try to find any clue as to who was behind the fatal gun attack.
“I talk to Sean all the time. I hope he’s with mam. We’d love to see dad get closure before he goes. At least he’d have that.”
Crimestoppers has issued a fresh poster campaign appealing for information about Sean Poland’s murder.
Anyone with information should contact Crimestoppers on 1800-25-00-25 or the Garda confidential line on 1800-666-111.
