The man who brought his dead uncle into a post office to collect his pension has revealed the first picture of him.
Declan Haughney, 40, has now made international headlines after it emerged that he and a pal walked his uncle Peadar Doyle, 66, to Hoseys Post Office in Carlow — with him claiming they “didn’t realise” he was dead.
And now, four days later, Declan is back in the very home on Pollerton Road that he shared with his uncle — and he showed us a photo of Peadar — the first one revealed to the public since this tragedy unfolded.
Declan says he wants the public to remember his uncle — revealing this photo of him from a number of years ago.
And he says he’s getting back to life inside Peadar’s home — despite what he says has been a constant whirlwind of threats and jibes in recent days.
“I’m still trying to get the house back clean. I’m going to get the house back clean first.
“There were five dogs in the house and I’m taking two of them back,” he said.
“It is [weird being back in the house without Peadar] I won’t lie, it is,” he said.
“All the dogs now are gone, Peadar is gone. There’s just me.”
Declan says he’s now getting threats since the incident last Friday, and also strange requests from members of the public — for his autograph.
“I’ve been getting threats,” he claimed
“Getting shouted at and people saying ‘Deccy give me your autograph’ and all that.
“But if I was to worry about that I wouldn’t walk out the door,” he said.
Declan says he doesn’t care if people think he shouldn’t speak right now, and says he’s decided to continue to speak out, as he claims he did nothing wrong on the day he brought Peadar to the post office.
“I’m in bad form. I’m my own man. If I want to get my own word out I’ll say it,” he said.
And he said it was important to him to hold his uncle’s coffin at his funeral on Monday — as he wanted to show that the allegations “are bullsh*t”.
“It was because right it’s showing people that it’s all bullsh*t yeah.
“My family are strict family yeah. If they thought for one second if it was anything got to do with me, they would not let me around the place,” he claimed.
“Number two, with the guards, would I not be arrested, no?
“I’m hearing now that it’s [the story] has gone worldwide,” he added.
The Garda investigation into what exactly happened in the events leading up to the discovery of Peadar’s body in the post office, continues.
It is understood gardai are probing whether any potential financial fraud was taking place — but the probe is also understood to be focused on whether any person “failed to notify” the authorities of a dead body.
Declan claims his uncle was unwell two days prior to what happened.
He also says he believes that with hindsight, that his uncle may have died during the walk to the post office, as he became “all slumpy” at a bridge less than a two minute walk from his home on Pollerton Road.
Despite that, he claims neither he nor his pal Gareth Coakley, who dragged his uncle to the post office to collect the pension, actually realised he was dead.
Both men have given voluntary statements to gardai, and no arrests have been made to date.
On Sunday, Declan told this paper that he should “win an Oscar” if he’s found to be lying about his version of events.
He also told how his uncle was “under the bed” for days prior to the incident, and if he could turn back time, he says he wishes he’d notified someone that he was unwell.
“Now in the last month he’s telling me he doesn’t feel well, he’s after deteriorating.
“He says ‘Declan, I don’t feel well.’ I said to myself I don’t feel well either.
“He was on the ground off the bed. I said what’s wrong, he said ‘I’m grand’.”
But he said “people in the town” believe the worst of him — namely that he’s a drug addict who tried to steal his uncle’s pension.
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