Hundreds attend Staines funeral

BARIPADA, JAN 25: The mortal remains of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines (58) and his two sons, Philip (10) and Timothy (7), ...

BARIPADA, JAN 25: The mortal remains of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines (58) and his two sons, Philip (10) and Timothy (7), were laid to rest at the Christian cemetery here on Monday as hundreds of lepers from the home he ran wept inconsolably.

The mortal remains were kept in three separate coffins covered with wreaths brought in by friends and sympathisers of the Staines. Staines and his two sons were burnt alive on Friday night when the station wagon they were sleeping in was torched by a group of fanatics.

First secretary (consular and administration) Davis Poulter in the Australian High Commission at New Delhi and assistant consular officer in the High Commission Unni Krishan were present during the last rites.

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Earlier, a mass prayer was held in front of the Staines’ residence. After the prayer service, the coffins were carried in an open truck with banners reading Long live Graham, Timothy and Philip’ and Graham, Philip and Timothy amar rahe‘.

A huge crowd lined up akilometre on both sides of the road from the church to the cemetery to have a last glimpse of the Staines. At the church campus, the stream of visitors were recounting the horrifying incident in detail, most of them condemning the incident as “heinous and barbaric”.

District magistrate and collector R Balakrishnan and district superintendent of police Pradeep Kapur supervised the funeral procession.