A man who brought his dead uncle into a post office to collect his pension carried his coffin in an emotional funeral.
Declan Haughney insisted that he didn’t realise Peader Doyle was dead when he and another man brought him to the Hoseys Post Office in Carlow to collect his pension last Friday morning.
Declan, 40, who says he’s lived with his uncle all his life, claimed he’s now “the talk of the town” and is being branded a “murderer” in the local community, ever since the sensational story emerged.
And Peader was laid to rest in an emotional funeral service at the Church of the Holy Family in Askea on Monday morning.
The 66-year-old was buried in the nearby St Mary’s Cemetery by his heartbroken family after the mass.
It comes after nephew Declan insisted he’s “not an eejit” – and believes he’s being accused of dragging his dead uncle into a post office to rob his pension – because he previously stole from his aunt.
He said: “Why would I want to rob my uncle? I’m 40 years of age yeah, I’m not a child, I’m not a young fella. I’m not an eejit to walk into Hoseys with a dead man and collect his money. Am I cuckoo? Am I cuckoo? I’m not.”
Declan, who admits he used to have a drug problem, and who served two years in prison, says he’s now being accused of knowingly bringing his dead uncle in to get his pension – because of his past.
He told us: “That’s why they’re saying it, that’s why this is all coming up now – because I done it before. A bank card came through the aunt’s door and I got the pin code and went down for fraud and that’s why this is all coming up.
“People know about that in the town you know. But that was 15 years ago. I’m off the gear three years and I’m doing well.”
And Declan, who has a black eye and facial injuries after allegedly being attacked following the incident last Friday, revealed that he now believes his uncle was dead before he even reached the post office.
Declan says he believes Peader may have been dead by the time he and another male got him under the bridge at Pollerton Road, which is less than a two-minute walk from his home – but the pair continued to bring him to the post office by linking arms with him and dragging him there.
He added: “So we linked him from here to there. He was walking like normal and then I reckon he died.
“This is no word of a lie, he started dragging his heels from you see the yellow sign that’s there? But we didn’t even think of it as anything. We were grand like then all of a sudden he started going all slumpy.
“We thought nothing of it because Peader had had heart attacks and all.”
Declan and the other man got Peader into the post office, where he claims his uncle just “dropped” to the ground and he then realised he was dead.
He said: “We got in as far as the queue. We were holding him and when we got to the queue we let him go and he just dropped. He just dropped there and then.
“Why would I try to rob my uncle’s money when I’m living in the house with him and we’re sharing the bills?”
Declan gave a voluntary statement to gardai and has not been arrested. He added: “He’s my uncle. The man who reared me. I’m shellshocked. My heart is torn in two.”
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