THE heartbroken father of a young man killed by a falling tree in a horrifying Storm Eowyn accident had been waiting for his son to return home after speaking to him on the phone.
Kacper Dudek’s devastated dad told a local priest after his son’s tragic death: “He never came home.”
Kacper, 20, tragically died near Raphoe, Co Donegal at around 5.30am on Friday after the horror incident struck during adverse weather conditions.
The 20-year-old was travelling home from his workplace at Zeus in Letterkenny at the time of the tragic incident.
Hundreds of mourners are expected to attend his funeral mass at St Patrick’s Church in Murlog, Lifford on Thursday morning.
Although a native of Poland, he was raised in the border town of Lifford.
Kacper, the beloved son of Artur and Katarzyna Dudek, was born in Brody before moving to Ireland with his family at a young age.
He was the eldest of three, and is mourned by his parents, his siblings, Karol and Weronika, and his girlfriend Molly.
He died shortly after meeting a roadblock caused by a fallen tree.
Kacper had turned his car around, only to be struck by another tree at Feddyglass, near Raphoe.
Father Michael McCaughey, who attended the tragic scene, spoke with Kacper’s heartbroken family yesterday.
Speaking to the Derry Journal, the priest said: “This young man was speaking to his father and within minutes he was dead.
“He apparently had come across a fallen tree. He had phoned his father, and father advised him to take a different route home. Then literally within minutes of the accident a tree fell on him.
“One of the tragic things was his father waited for him to come home, and his father said to me: ‘He never came home’.
“I found those words heartrending.”
TRAGEDY PROBE
A full Garda investigation into the tragedy is still ongoing.
Hundreds of tributes have been paid to the tragic young man with many calling him a gentle soul.
Kacper remains will repose at his home in Lifford from 4pm on Tuesday.
His funeral mass will take place at 10:30am in St Patrick`s Church, Murlog, Lifford before a cremation afterwards in Lakelands Crematorium.
