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Catholics and Protestants at funeral of murdered Belfast teenager


Hundreds of Protestant and Catholic teenagers gathered yesterday at the church of the Holy Evangelists, in Carnmoney, Belfast, for the funeral of an 18-year-old Protestant boy killed by Loyalist paramilitaries. Gavin Brett was killed in a drive-by shooting as he stood chatting with Catholic friends in Glengormley, on Sunday night. His best friend, Michael, a Catholic, who was injured during the attack, attended in a wheelchair. At the service the Reverend Nigel Baylor said: "These men who murdered Gavin were Protestants, loyalists, and they killed one of their own, thinking that he was a Roman Catholic. "They did it for the cause of Protestant civil rights. All they succeeded in doing was to deny a Protestant his civil rights and to deny all Protestants of their civil rights." The minister said the murdered teenager had represented the future of Northern Ireland. He said: "Gavin, in the way he lived his life, friends with Protestants and Roman Catholics, represents the only future, the only hope, the only purpose we have, the only truth, that we are called to love our neighbours as ourselves, regardless of their background." On Tuesday night, people had gathered for a candle-lit vigil at the spot where he died. Brett's father Michael Brett thanked the crowd for coming and said this was the start of the family's healing process. Local parish priest Father Dan Whyte said it was a service for all the community.

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