The killers of the Protestant teenager who was shot dead by the loyalist Red Hand Defenders have brought shame on the name of Protestantism, his funeral was told today.
Hundreds of mourners from both sides of the community in Northern Ireland also heard Church of Ireland rector the Rev Nigel Baylor say those who murdered 18-year-old Mr Gavin Brett represented "the evil wasteful path which is dead and useless to us all"
Mr Brett was shot and killed when automatic gunfire was directed at him and his friends outside a GAA club in Glengormley, Co Antrim on the northern outskirts of Belfast on Sunday.
The teenager died in the arms of his father Michael, a respected paramedic who helped treat victims of the Omagh bombing.
More than 100 of Mr Brett's uniformed ambulance service colleagues led the youth's funeral cortege in a convoy of ambulances from the Brett family home, which was visited earlier today by RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan.
The hearse paused at the spot outside St Enda's GAA club where the young victim was gunned down, before resuming the journey to the Church of the Holy Evangelist in Carnmoney nearby.
Hundreds of people turned out to pay their last respects along the road and lines of ambulance personnel formed a guard of honour up the hill to the church as the hearse and limousine carrying his relatives arrived.
After Gavin's mother Phyllis, sister Tara and brother Phillip entered the church, all clutching red roses, Mr Brett hoisted the coffin on to his shoulder and gave it an affectionate pat before helping carry it inside.
Rev Baylor, accompanied by local Catholic priest Fr Daniel White, beckoned groups of bewildered youths outside to come into the church saying: "You have as much right to be here as anyone else."
Among them, on crutches and his leg in plaster, was Mr Michael Farrell, a Catholic friend of Gavin's who was shot in the attack.
In his address Rev Baylor described Gavin as "a fine tall handsome lad, full of life with a promising future ahead of him".
He added: "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 right and to deny all Protestants their civil rights.
"They have done nothing but bring shame on the name of Protestantism. They represent the evil wasteful path which is dead and useless to us all.
"Gavin, on the other hand, represents the future for Northern Ireland. 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."
PA