Politicians on both sides of the political divide in Northern Ireland have expressed outrage after a "disgusting" video showing people mocking the death of Tyrone woman Michaela McAreavey surfaced online.
The 30-second clip, which appears to have been recorded in an Orange Order hall in Dundonald, County Down, makes reference to McAreavey being murdered in Mauritius while on her honeymoon.
The song mocks McAreavey's husband John and details how her attackers "hammered and bate her about".
McAreavey was murdered in her hotel room in Grand Gaube, northern Mauritius, in January 2011. Investigators believe that McAreavey was wrestled to the ground and strangled shortly after entering the room.
I was sent this video. I haven't the words to describe my anger at a song being sung mocking the murder of Michaela McArevey, never mind it being sung at a "Centenary Event".
This is beyond reprehensible. Those involved should be bloody ashamed pic.twitter.com/AnJ7sLID47
— Malachy Quinn (@MalachyQuinn) June 2, 2022
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson condemned the footage as "vile", adding that it was "deeply hurtful" to McAreavey's family.
Former First Minister Arlene Foster also condemned the footage, stating that it was "just so wrong and hurtful".
Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie slammed the footage as "absolutely abhorrent, disgusting and shameful", while TUV leader Jim Allister described it as "beyond disgusting".
"The video glorying in the murder of Michaela McAreavey is beyond disgusting, bringing shame and dishonor on all associated with such loathsome behavior," Allister wrote on Twitter.
Kate Nicholl, a South Belfast Alliance Party MLA, said the video was incomprehensible.
"The hatred displayed in the video of men singing & laughing about the horrific murder of a young woman is incompressible. How her poor family must feel. I have reported to the police," Nicholl wrote on Twitter.
Very few things shock me, but the hatred displayed in the video of men singing & laughing about the horrific murder of a young woman is incompressible. How her poor family must feel. I have reported to the police.
— Kate Nicholl (@KateNicholl) June 3, 2022
Comments