A PLANNED vigil for the Irishman who died while sleeping rough on a Dublin city street has been cancelled 'out of respect for his victims.'
Jack Watson, aged in his 50s, had been homeless in the Irish city since 2015 when he was discovered unconscious on Suffolk Street last Wednesday, August 30.
Watson, who emigrated with his parents from Ireland to Australia as a child, was taken to St James’ Hospital around 4am, but was pronounced dead on route to the hospital.
Earlier this week, revelations over the homeless man's past in Australia surfaced, claiming he had been deported to Ireland following his conviction for sexually assault of two minors.
According to The Irish Sun, Watson, who also used the name Shane and Jack Steele, received an 18-month prison sentence in April 2008 after he was convicted at Bendigo County Court in the state of Victoria of indecently assaulting two girls under the age of 16.
Watson was then jailed again for the offence of “recklessly putting someone at risk of contracting a notifiable condition” when a court heard that he had knowingly passed on the HIV virus to a woman.
The paper also alleges that Watson amassed 40 convictions over 19 years in Australia including making threats to kill, assaulting police officers, actual bodily harm, deprivation of liberty and trespass.
Watson had become well-known amongst the Dublin homeless community after he took on the role of chef in Apollo House last December, the building in Dublin which was occupied by Home Sweet Home, an activist group for the homeless in the city.
Following the revelations by the Irish paper, the activist group announced they were cancelling the planned vigil - scheduled for this Thursday September 7 - for Watson.
In a statement on their social media, the group said: "Those associated with the Home Sweet Home campaign are shocked at reports that a homeless man who passed away last week had been deported from Australia for very serious crimes.
"Out of respect for the victims of these crimes a planned vigil outside Apollo House on Thursday evening has been cancelled."
— HomeSweetHome (@HSHIreland) September 5, 2017
But the group said the developments did not change the fact that many people have died in Ireland as a result of the housing emergency.
"This is totally unacceptable and urgently needs to be addressed.
"The Artists and Trade Unionists involved in Home Sweet Home have had discussions about building a permanent policy driven intervention into the housing emergency that would systemically target the root causes of this policy-made catastrophe.
"Such an initiative not only forms part of a solution to the emergency but serves as a permanent memorial to all those who have had their lives ruined by it, in perpetuity."
