{"id":271463,"date":"2026-01-30T06:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T06:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/271463\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T06:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T06:30:14","slug":"priest-pays-tribute-to-fine-good-man-killed-in-freak-accident-at-shop-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/271463\/","title":{"rendered":"Priest pays tribute to \u2018fine, good man\u2019 killed in \u2018freak accident\u2019 at shop \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A local priest has paid tribute to a Co Tyrone man killed in what he described as a \u2018freak accident\u2019 at a filling station on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Gerard \u2018Jock\u2019 Rafferty died after the tragic incident at the filling station in Clonoe, after a grey BMW crashed through the window of the Spar.<\/p>\n

Emergency services attended the scene of the crash at the filling station, but Mr Rafferty was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n

The local community has been left stunned<\/a> after the death of Mr Rafferty, who lived in nearby Derrylaughan and was a native of Maghery, Co Armagh.<\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>\"Noah<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking at a mass on Thursday in Clonoe Parish, Canon Benny Fee said there had been a \u201cterrible shadow\u201d hanging over the area and paid tribute to Mr Rafferty, describing him as a \u201cgood, fine man\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn these days in Clonoe<\/a> there is a terrible shadow hanging over the parish, the sudden shocking death of dear Jock,\u201d Canon Fee told parishioners.<\/p>\n

\u201cA fine good man, decent fella, coming from a great family across the river. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday I\u2019m inviting St Brigid to welcome Jock back into the presence of God, be safe there and to reward him for all his goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parish priest said his thoughts were with Mr Rafferty\u2019s family, including his wife Susan and three daughters, Shauna, Caoimhe and Niamh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking of all Jock\u2019s people, a great big extended family, brothers and sisters and spouses and children and grandchildren. Give them strength and courage in these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking also then of all the people who did what they could on Wednesday, all the ambulance people and all the police and everybody who did their part so well, trying to do what they could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canon Fee also added that his thoughts were with the female driver of the BMW.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking of that beautiful girl who, whatever happened on Wednesday in a freak accident, that\u2019s the one thing we do know. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever she is, I don\u2019t know her, I want to assure her that nobody in Clonoe is standing judgement on her, nobody\u2026it\u2019s a hard cross on everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s breaking your heart too, so I ask St Brigid to embrace you and to hold you close to your heart in these terrible days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PSNI says enquiries into the collision which led to Mr Rafferty\u2019s death are ongoing.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe scene in Clonoe County Tyrone where a car crashed into a garage. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN <\/p>\n

Mr Rafferty, who had worked as a bricklayer, had also been a regular at a local community bingo in nearby Ardboe in east Tyrone.<\/p>\n

The Ardboe Community Centre said everyone locally was saddened to hear of the tragic and sudden passing, and said Mr Rafferty \u201calways had a smile on his face\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cJock was a regular of the Bingo in the hall over the years, a great man who always had a smile on his face, time for a chat and was always willing to help out with the Bingo when needed,\u201d a social media post said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will be sorely missed by all at the Bingo who have known Jock over the years and our thoughts and prayers are with the Rafferty family at this sad time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funeral details for Mr Rafferty have been announced, with requiem mass in St. Patrick\u2019s Church, Clonoe at 11am on Saturday 31 January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A local priest has paid tribute to a Co Tyrone man killed in what he described as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[132862,79641,132861,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-271463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-co-armagh","9":"tag-co-tyrone","10":"tag-coalisland","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}