Timothy Casey was born in a wheelchair... and unfortunately this disability was only compounded by the tragic death of his mother, who was unable to survive her injuries. Having no father, and evidently no luck at all whatsoever, Tim was raised by his alcoholic Portuguese half uncle Pedro, a keeper of bees, in the south Dublin suburb of Dalkey until his arrest and incarceration in 1987. Following three highly publicized but failed appeals, Pedro was finally executed in 1993.
Tim inherited his half uncles business, but with no formal education and a severe allergic reaction to bees, his life ambitions were modest. As a child he dreamt of owning his own Ice Cream Van, a dream that was finally realized on his 21st birthday. He began to make a life for himself by selling fruit flavoured iced lolly treats to swimmers at Dublin's famous Forty Foot on hot sunny days.
For the first time in his bee-stung, wheelchair bound existence... Life was good. Tim worked happily for a number of years in his van... but all the while harboring a secret ambition.
Over countless long hot days slaving over the Mr Whippy Machine, Tim had begun to fantasize about one day joining the swimmers by plunging into the deep cold water of the Irish sea. This dream however remained just that... A dream. The Forty Foot - a series of high rocky outcrops used as a high diving area and surrounded by deep water - has never in its history been wheelchair accessible... that is, until now.
Following an arduous, fifteen year campaign fronted by Mr Casey, Dun Laoghaire / Rathdown County Council finally succumbed to pressure by opening a ramp that would allow wheelchair access to the area as well all of it's famous high diving spots. Fittingly... Timothy Casey, was allowed to be the first perambolically challanged person to dive from The Seagulls Nest - the highest high diving spot... towering an impressive fifteen meters above the water.
Following an emotionally draining opening ceremony Timothy ascended the ramp with thousands of onlookers, looking on. Relishing every moment of his triumph, he punched the air. As a symbolic gesture, Tim had decided to dive wearing his wheelchair - a decision that nobody could have realized at the time would have had such a tragic consequences.
Tim's awkward and dangerous plummet into the freezing waters below was initially greeted with cheers... but after failing to resurface for almost ten minutes, some experts began to speculate that something was amiss... and a short time later, Tim's lifeless corpse was pulled from the murky waters.
Tim will be sorely missed but, as they say, every cloud... and after extensive treatment for Rust... Tim's now empty wheelchair is to be taken over by a young boy who was knocked off his bike by joy riders in an ice cream van shortly after leaving the opening.
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