Sligo murders: Killings 'beyond belief' says victims' priest - BBC News
Michael Snee and Aidan Moffit were found dead in their own homes on Monday and Tuesday.
Michael Snee and Aidan Moffit were found dead in their own homes in Sligo in the Republic of Ireland

The killing of two men in Sligo town in suspected hate-related attacks have been described as "beyond belief" by a parish priest who knew both victims.

Aidan Moffitt was found dead in his home at Cartron Heights on Monday and, the next night, Michael Snee's body was found at his home on Connaughton Road.

A man is due to appear before Sligo District Court later charged in relation to the killings.

The man, who is in his 20s, was arrested on Wednesday morning.

The killings have caused a great deal of shock and upset in the town, according to the parish priest, Fr Noel Rooney.

Some of his parishioners wept as details of the "brutal" killings began to emerge, he told BBC News NI.

Fr Rooney visited Mr Snee's family on Wednesday to offer his sympathy and said they had been left "completely numb" by his loss, which was made even worse by the violent nature of his death.

The priest has known the family for some time, having previously officiated at the funeral of Mr Snee's mother.

Noting that the killings took place in the week before Easter, he said they were going through "a crucifixion of absolutely epic proportions".

Michael Snee's home on Connaughton Road was cordoned off while the scene was examined

He also knew Mr Moffitt, who he described as a "nice, decent, honourable guy".

Mr Moffitt was originally from County Roscommon and when he moved to Sligo some years ago he reminded Fr Rooney that they had already met decades earlier.

"He told me that as a tiny child I carried him around his parents' kitchen on my shoulders," the priest said.

He explained that he had visited the Moffitt family in the 1980s while he was serving as a curate in Lisacul in Roscommon.

On the morning after Mr Moffitt's death, Fr Rooney had the difficult task of informing his parishioners during Mass that there had been a murder in their town, but at that stage they did not know who had been killed.

The next morning, the priest found himself making a "carbon copy announcement" from the altar, telling Mass-goers that a second victim had been killed.

Prayers were said for both victims in their local church in the parish of St Josephs and Calry.

Floral tributes have been left outside Aidan Moffitt's home at Cartron Heights