Name Murder Joseph | ||
Joseph Rafferty (c. 1974 – 12 April 2005) was an Irish murder victim. Following the assault of Rafferty's sister Carmel at a party, Rafferty confronted the alleged attacker, who reportedly told him that his family had connections to the "IRA" and could get him killed. Rafferty continued to receive threats that the IRA would get him for several months before his killing. The Rafferty family met with Daithi Doolan, the local Sinn Fein representative, asking him to have the threat stopped. On 12 April 2005, Rafferty was shot twice with a sawn-off shotgun, once in the leg and once in the chest, as he left his flat in Ongar, Dublin to go to work.
Taoiseach (at the time) Bertie Ahern stated in September 2005 that he was satisfied that there was no official involvement from the IRA. Ahern stated the murder was committed by "Elements, probably of criminality, claim[ing] they had links with republicans." Both Doolan and Gerry Adams have called for co-operation with the Garda in the investigation of Rafferty's murder. Adams stated he would be willing to meet with members of the Rafferty family.
The Irish Independent reported in February 2006 that an upcoming Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report on the murder was expected to link Rafferty's murder to the IRA. In a statement, Rafferty's other sister, Esther Uzell-Rafferty, said of the upcoming IMC report: "It's what we have been saying all along. We've never said [the murder] was sanctioned by the IRA's top man, but other Sinn Fein members knew it was going to happen and did nothing about it." She added "[The murderer] is definitely an IRA member and we know this because of the information we have received." Uzell-Rafferty ran as an independent candidate in the 2007 Irish general election for Dublin South East to call on Daithi Doolan to fully co-operate with the Garda investigation into her brother's killing, stating, "The murderer is still walking the street. Sinn Fein have done absolutely nothing at all."
Rafferty's family have stated there are similarities between the murder of Rafferty and that of Robert McCartney. In 2014, Jim Cusack from the Irish Independent wrote that Rafferty was killed by the IRA after "'disrespecting' the organisation after a spat that began when Joseph ... spurned the sexual advances of the partner of a well-known IRA figure."