A sister of Robert McCartney has described the death of Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison as being like “a weight was lifted”.
Mr Davison was implicated in the events that led up to the murder of Robert McCartney in January 2005.
He was questioned by police but denied any involvement.
Relatives of Mr McCartney have claimed that he ordered his murder during a brawl in Magennis's Bar in Belfast city centre.
Speaking to Miriam O’Callaghan on RTE radio, the victim's sister Catherine said her family was shocked to learn that Mr Davison had himself been killed.
“The way I would sort of say it was as if, very strangely, as if a weight was lifted,” she said.
“Now, justice probably would imply there was an element of right about it, but murder is murder at the end of the day and we would condemn that.
“But on a very human level he has been in our lives for the past 10 years and we can never think of Robert without thinking of Jock.”
