independent.ie– It was Saturday, April 14, 1984. Local farmer Jack Griffin was running along White Strand Beach in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, when he saw what looked like a doll lying on the rocks. He looked closer and realised it wasn’t a doll. It was the lifeless body of a naked baby boy. An empty fertiliser bag was nearby.
The farmer ran the long distance to the home of his brother-in-law and returned by car with his wife’s nephew, Brendan O’Shea. After confirming that it was a dead baby, they alerted gardaí, who arrived on the scene shortly afterwards.
Soon after the baby was found, local undertaker Tom Cournane was called. He baptised the baby using water from a local stream and named him John, apparently after a beloved uncle. Later, after the State Pathologist had examined the body, Mr Cournane organised a funeral, with local school- children at the burial, including his own daughter.
