The mother of an eight-year-old boy murdered in the Omagh bomb has told the inquiry she will never be able to forgive those who planned and carried out the atrocity.
Oran Doherty was killed when the Real IRA detonated a 500lb bomb on Market Street back in August 15, 1998.
The child had travelled to the town along with a number of friends as part of the Spanish-language exchange programme and had visited the Ulster American Folk Park earlier that Saturday.
In a statement read out by his sister Lisa Dillon, Oran’s mother Bernie recalled how he had begged her to allow him to go on the trip.
“Oran was only eight. And I wasn’t really happy to let him go, but I continued to tell him I would think about it,” she said.
“I remember talking to him on the doorstep, telling him to watch out, watch his money, things like that.
“The last time I saw him was with the others, heading down to get the bus at the school.”
Later that afternoon, while out shopping in Buncrana, Bernie began to realise something had happened.
Oran did not return on the bus with some of the other students that night.
That’s when his father and a number of other men headed to Omagh to search for him.
“He was saying: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll find our wee man, I’ll bring him home.’ But as the night went on and on, there was still no word and we were starting to fear the worst,” Bernie said in the statement.
At around 6.37am, Bernie could see another family being consoled four doors down from her sister’s house, after Shaun McLaughlin (12) was confirmed to have been among the dead.
“At that moment the phone rang and it was my husband, who asked if I’d heard the news,” she recalled.
“I said I had heard about Shaun being dead, and it was then he told me Oran was dead too.
“I just threw the phone. It was your worst nightmare come true.”
The following night Bernie made her way to the local morgue to see her deceased son.
“It was just something I will never forget, seeing him laying there. He was so badly marked, but his hair was wet for some reason and it had changed colour,” she said.
“It was dark and he had a big bruise on his cheek, with a deep cut as well. He had burns over him too.
“I don’t know how I left him that night to go home. I left him lying up in that morgue and it still haunts me that I didn’t stay.”
Oran was one of three boys from Buncrana, including James Barker (12), who died.
Dozens of cars drove to Omagh from Co Donegal to bring them home.
“I remember that night, on the way home, we were behind the three hearses and we went through Strabane,” Bernie said.
“There were people out standing with candles. And the closer we got to home, the more people were standing out. It was incredibly moving.
“We took the bodies back to Buncrana, where the streets were thick with men, women and children holding candles.
“I could see old friends just standing there crying. I was numb. Just numb.”
The inquiry heard how the Doherty family still had the little packet of sweets Oran had bought at the Ulster Folk Park just hours before his death, including “the wee jar of honeycomb, where he had eaten one bit and wrapped up again”.
“This is how he left it on the bus when he got out,” his mum explained.
“We got that back, his wee jar of sweets, and we still have them 26 years later.”
Bernie said she hoped the inquiry would provide answers for the families, but admitted she could not forgive those who murdered her son.
“The loss of Oran has changed our lives forever,” she said.
“At different times I get very angry at the thought of the people who did this.
“As for the perpetrators, I think far too much time has been allowed to pass for us to get a chance to see them get what they deserved.
“If they are out there and listening, I want them to know they will never be forgiven for what they have done to our wee boy and for the hurt and pain they have caused my family.
“To my darling son Oran: I look forward to the day when I will see you again, but, for now, Mammy will continue to do her best to look after all your brothers and sisters and all your wee nieces and nephews, who I know have loved their uncle so much.”