Fears as Irish aid worker among eight kidnapped from Haitian orphanage
Residents in the Haitian town of Kenscoff have described scenes of 'complete chaos' as the group – called 'Live Together' – launched repeated raids on their neighbourhoods in recent weeks. Police have arrested a former senator with alleged links to the group.
Fatima Jean-Jacques, the manager of My Green 509, an NGO in Kenscoff, told Extra.ie that her staff had to flee the town, and that her NGO shut for two months this summer to avoid attacks from the gang. A Paramilitary gang has emerged as the chief suspects in the abduction of an Irish aid worker and seven others from an orphanage in Haiti. Pic: Getty Images
Ms Jean-Jacques, who attends St Nicolas, the same Kenscoff church as the nuns who run the orphanage, said there has been 'complete chaos' in the town in recent months.
She said Mayo native Gena Heraty was kidnapped 'solely for money' and that Haiti has been slipping into chaos and gang fighting since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021. She said the orphanage caters for local children and is located in the mountains.
A Mass was held last night for Ms Heraty and her colleagues in Cushlough, near Westport, Co. Mayo. Ms Heraty, from Westport, was kidnapped in the early hours of yesterday morning with one child and six other adults. A Mass was held last night for Irish aid worker Ms Heraty and her colleagues in Cushlough, near Westport, Co. Mayo. Pic: Conor McKeown
Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris said the Government 'will continue to leave no stone unturned to ensure Gena and her colleagues are released'.
Ms Heraty has been in Haiti for 33 years, working to help children with special needs in the island nation. She is well known around the commune of Kenscoff, about 10km southeast of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
In a statement, her family said they are monitoring the situation, which they described as 'evolving and deeply worrying'. Ms Heraty is the director of special needs programmes at Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs (NPFS), an organisation that supports young people with disabilities. Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris said the Government 'will continue to leave no stone unturned to ensure the Irish aid worker and her colleagues are released'. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photos
NPFS is part of the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) network, founded in 1954 by Father William B. Wasson in Mexico. Kenscoff mayor Jean Massillon told The Associated Press in February that the town was under almost continuous attack by the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, with gunmen going from home to home and indiscriminately opening fire.
According to AP, Viv Ansanm, which means 'Live Together,' formed in September 2023 as a coalition of two gang federations that were previously enemies. It was responsible for several attacks on critical government infrastructure in February, which eventually led to the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
The dead in Kenscoff in recent months include pastors, teachers and children. The attack on the town that began in January has left over 1,660 people homeless, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Irish aid worker Ms Heraty has lived in Haiti for three decades and has been the victim of extreme violence before. Pic: University of Limerick/RollingNews
A former senator was charged with conspiring against the state and financing criminal organisations for allegedly supporting Live Together. Nenel Cassy was arrested on Saturday at a restaurant in Petionville, a wealthy district in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's National Police said in a Facebook post.
The police shared photos of the former senator in handcuffs next to heavily armed officers wearing ski masks. Cassy was designated as a corrupt actor by the US State Department in 2023. He was accused by Haiti's police of backing the attacks on Kenscoff.
A Heraty family spokeswoman said: 'We… are absolutely devastated by the awful news that Gena and seven of her colleagues were kidnapped from the orphanage grounds in Kenscoff, Haiti, on August 3, 2025. Gena has lived and worked in Haiti since 1993… The situation is evolving and deeply worrying.
'We are working closely with NPFS in Haiti and Ireland, the Irish Government, and international partners who are doing everything possible to ensure the [immediate] release of Gena and her colleagues.
'NPFS Haiti is working actively to ensure the ongoing safety and well-being of all the children and workers at the orphanage in Kenscoff during this challenging time. We ask that you keep Gena and her colleagues in your hearts as we pray for their safe return.
'Out of respect for the ongoing efforts and for Gena's safety, we are not in a position to share further details at this time.'
Ms Heraty has lived in Haiti for three decades and has been the victim of extreme violence before. In 2013, she was struck several times with a hammer before two men used the same weapon to kill Haitian Edward Major in an attack at the orphanage from which she was kidnapped.
Mr Major was killed as he tried to stop the robbery. Ms Heraty, who had been punched and hit with the hammer, was in a nearby bedroom protecting seven special needs children as the night watchman was murdered.
'We didn't know how they had killed him, we heard so much shouting and noise and banging, but we didn't hear a gunshot,' she told local media at the time. 'So we realised that they had killed him with the hammer. They must have knocked him on the ground, and they continued to beat him, I don't know.'
The Department of Foreign Affairs has vowed to do all in its power to get Ms Heraty, her colleagues and an innocent child to safety.
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