Outside Kenmare’s church following Mass on Sunday, worshippers were aghast at details emerging in the Michael Gaine investigation.
In the case’s first major breakthrough on Saturday, gardaí confirmed human remains were found by a neighbour in slurry from Gaine’s farmyard. DNA testing is currently under way to verify its origin.
Along with the shock of such a grim discovery, Massgoers said there has been a palpable erosion of trust between locals since it came to light. “If someone can do that here, then trust is gone between people,” one said.
Another spoke of a sense of anger in the town about the development, as gardaí had searched the slurry from Gaine’s farmyard many weeks ago and found nothing of note.
“I have no faith in the investigation at this stage,” the man said bluntly. “The guards are not asking the right people or the right questions.”
The missing sheep-farmer’s yard, just off the tourism hotspot of Moll’s Gap, was abuzz once again over the weekend. Garda vehicles and fire engines had pulled up, while diggers and detectives relentlessly sifted through slurry and searched the fields for further evidence.
The area outside Gaine’s farmyard, a common spot for locals, gardaí and media to congregate since the disappearance, was far busier than normal.
[ Man (50s) arrested on suspicion of murder of Kerry farmer Michael GaineOpens in new window ]
Friends left bouquets of flowers, signs and a woolly hat on his gatepost to mark what many have inferred was his death. People who knew the man came from afar to pay their respects.
Local TD Michael Healy-Rae said the finding of human remains was a “shocking and horrifying” progression in the case. However, he said, it perhaps provides a morsel of certainty at last.
“One question has now been answered, in a way, and that is as to where Mike is,” he said. “We can only hope in the coming days and weeks that gardaí will be answering more questions: how did it happen? Why did it happen? Who was involved?”
He said trust had been shaken in the wake of the gruesome discovery and said locals were “horrified” to think that such an event could occur on their doorstep.
Even though investigators didn’t find the human remains when they searched slurry pits and slurry tanks many weeks ago, Healy Rae had “nothing but confidence” in the gardaí and investigating team.
“We’re relying on them to do everything they can to help in this awful situation,” he added.
For the Kerry rallying community, of which Michael Gaine was a key member, the last few days have been particularly harrowing.
“A lot of the rallying fraternity are from Kenmare, and they’re all really close to [Gaine] and I can tell you they are pretty distraught,” said Dermot Healy of the Killarney and District Motor Club.
“The whole place is in shock and sadness. With the result in the last 48 hours, I mean people are just in disbelief.”
That feeling of distrust has spread in an environment where concrete steps in the investigation seemed few and far between.
However, gardaí on Sunday evening confirmedthey had made their first arrest in the case that afternoon, with a man in his 50s being questioned on suspicion of murder.
For locals, the arrest is the first step in a long road to rebuilding the fragile trust that binds their tight-knit community together.
