CANACONA: The funeral of Irish-Brit backpacker Danielle McLaughlin, who was found murdered at Devabagh, Canacona took place in her hometown at Buncrana, County Donegal yesterday at 11 am Irish local time.
Most of the mourners at St Mary’s Chapel instead of traditional dark clothing wore bright colours in memory of the 28-year-old Danielle. Yellow, pinks, bright blues, oranges and lilac all shouted out loudly across the somber setting.
Some mourners wore flowers around their necks and in their hair.
Just before 11 am Danielle’s remains were given a Garda (police) escort from her home in Marian Park as a guard of honour from her former secondary school, Scoil Mhuire, lined up to the church. Her hearse van was laden with floral tributes including the words ‘daughter’ and ‘sister’ and her wicker coffin had hundreds of flowers attached. Inside the hearse, a flower arrangement read ‘Hope U Win.’
Father Francis Bradley, parish priest of Buncrana, was the main celebrant at the Mass and Father John R Walsh concelebrated the Mass.
Before the Mass, family and friends delivered four symbols representing Danielle’s life to Father Bradley.
The items included a holy bracelet from the Mother Teresa care home in India, a family photo, Danielle’s diary and her guitar.
Friends and family read excerpts from the Bible, including a passage from the first Book of the Kings and one from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians. Father Bradley then read from the Holy Gospel according to St Mark.
In his opening remarks, Father Bradley called Ms Danielle “a beautiful daughter, a cherished grand-daughter, a thoughtful sister, a loyal friend, a free-spirit, a remarkable classmate, a gentle neighbor. For her, life was a journey, many journeys in fact,” he said. “Travel for her was genetic, and her death too must be seen not as an end but instead the beginning of yet another stage as she journeys now to eternal life.”
It may be recalled that Danielle was travelling in Goa when she was sexually assaulted and later savagely killed earlier this month allegedly by her yesteryear friend Vikat Bhagat, who after a fourteen days police custody is sent to judicial custody at Colvale.
As her mortal remains were laid to rest at the cemetery at Cockhill Chapel, Buncrana, the citizens of Canacona, where the unclothed body of Danielle was discovered by a local on his way to the farm on the morning hours of March 14, have come together to observe a peaceful bandh today, in Canacona municipal areas and the coastal belt of Patnem, Palolem and Agonda.
However, the police have taken all precautions and SP South Chandan Choudhary has met the organisers earlier to convey the message that the investigation in this case is going in the right direction and not to do anything that will disturb peace and tranquility in the taluka.
