ROBERT Delany’s terrified daughter discovered what happened to her father on the internet when she was just a young child.
Katie was only one-year-old when her innocent postman dad was gunned down on the orders of a psychotic dissident republican in 2008.
She has only ever known him in a state of living dead, put there by an embarrassed gangster and his gun-for-hire.
She said: “I had found out when I was seven or eight through a YouTube video. Everyone was talking about what happened. And it was on, I think it was the news. And I had clicked on it by accident and watched it. And I kind of just got upset and was really angry.
“It was frustrating to know. I think I took it more out on my mam than anything because I felt lied to.”
Katie, now 18, understands why it was kept from her. There can rarely be a right time to deliver news like that to a child.
Listen to This Is Robert on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
In the final episode of the This Is Robert podcast, Bob’s sister Sinead and his two daughters discuss the impact of his loss on their lives.
Sinead said: “After it happened, it was a very scary time because that sort of violent crime had never crossed our paths. So when it happened, we were extremely nervous.”
Speaking to her nieces, she added: “You were extremely nervous, even in the house, going to bed at night. And I suppose it was just, are they going to come for us? And I know in hindsight now, that obviously wasn’t the case. But at the time, we were all very, very nervous.
“A motorbike drove past when I got out of the car one night coming home. And I was like, oh my God.
“And just for that split second, I was like are they after us now? Do they know where we live? Because we weren’t used to that kind of…
“I just remember, you know, we’d visit, because he was in Tallaght Hospital for such a long time.
“So you’d have to park, and this probably sounds silly now, but you’d have to park in the multi-storey car park. You’d leave at night on your own and go to the car park. So getting from the hospital into your car, it was just… petrifying.”
Robert’s daughters Megan and Katie added: “Holding your breath, like.”
‘STILL BE QUITE NERVOUS’
Megan, who witnessed her dad being shot in their Tallaght home when she was just six and is now a 23-year-old mum, said: I would still be quite nervous, like, just as a person. I think it’s just in me now.
“I used to walk home from school and I’d always be looking over my shoulder and just watching. I think it’s just how your personality is now. You’re just a nervous person.”
Robert’s parents say the evil thug who condemned Robert to a living death would get great enjoyment seeing him in his current vegetative state.
Terry and Noeleen Delany have decided that releasing pictures of the father-of-two who has been brain dead for 17 years would give the brute who ordered him shot some sick satisfaction.
SICK SATISFACTION
His mum Noeleen said: “I don’t want them to know what they’ve done to Robert. I really don’t.”
And Terry explained: “The thing about it is, the b*****ds that have done this might also take some perverse pleasure.
“I think they’re that sick-minded, that they probably would. You wouldn’t be surprised — what would kill us is if they produced that in a pub some night and started laughing. And they’re quite capable of that, that’s how evil they are.”
Robert was gunned down in 2008 on the orders of a psychotic dissident republican who was embarrassed when the innocent postman broke up a pub fight involving his son.
BRUTE DISOWNED
He paid hitman Daniel Gaynor €10,000 to kill him, and while the trigger man failed to do that, he did leave Robert in a state of living death from which he will only emerge when he draws his last breath.
The brute was disowned by the republican movement, condemned publicly by the likes of Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and former TD Martin Ferris.
In episode 3 of the This Is Robert podcast, his family discuss the pursuit of justice which has — so far — fallen short of bringing the Provo thug before the courts. As they fight for him, they continue to involve Robert in their lives.
But watching him lie in his care home bed is always a reminder of what he’s missing.
Sinead said: “It’s hard for us and it’s hard to watch. He has no quality of life and he’s, you know, he’s just left there.
“I don’t know if people are confused or they think you’re going up and you’re going to sit and have a chat with him.
“You know and he’s going to have a chat back and you go for a cup of tea. And it’s just not like that. We don’t know if he hears us. We don’t know. We don’t know anything. We just hope that he does.
“But it’s just very hard to look at him like that.”
She added: “It’s a tough one because you can be selfish and just want him here like that because you can still go and see him.
“I had found out when I was seven or eight through a YouTube video. Everyone was talking about what happened. And it was on, I think it was the news. And I had clicked on it by accident and watched it. And I kind of just got upset and was really angry.”
Katie Delany
“But he doesn’t have a quality of life and I think it’s very cruel the way he’s left. At the time when it happened, you know, it was just please, please, please, please, please keep him here.
“And I don’t think we would have cared back then how he was going to be left. But we just wanted him here. But so many years later now, it’s kind of, it’s so cruel on him.”
Robert’s partner Mags, who eventually had to leave him with his family’s blessing, still visits her teenage sweetheart.
Katie said: “Yeah, she’s okay. She’ll still come up and visit with me. She’ll take me up every now and then. She still loves going down and seeing him as much as anything. Like, as any of us do.”
FAMILY’S NEW ADDITION
As does Harry, the grandson born last year Robert has never really met.
Megan said: “I would say he would have idolised Harry from what we’re told. You wouldn’t have got a minute with him.”
THIS IS ROBERT – A BRAND NEW TRUE CRIME PODCAST
ROBERT Delany was 27 when in 2008 he was shot in the head on the orders of a brutal dissident Republican.
The innocent dad’s “crime” was to break up a pub fight involving the wrong man.
Shot in front of his young daughter in their Dublin home, Bob suffered catastrophic brain damage.
For 17 years he has been neither living nor dead.
But his family is refusing to give up hope that the man who orchestrated the attack will be caught.
This is Robert is an Irish Sun podcast narrated by Damien Lane, brought to you by the producers of the Kinahans and the Stardust Tragedy.
This is his story.
Listen to This Is Robert from Thursday May 29 on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Finding the right time to tell him what happened his grandad is very important to the family.
Sinead added. “It’s tough. I’m sure if we don’t tell him, he’ll find out, like what happened with Katie.”
- This Is Robert episodes 1,2 and 3 are available now on Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.
