‘Daddy is lost’, partner of missing man Diarmuid Twomey tells children
Ciara Byrne, who is desperately trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of her partner, Diarmuid Twomey, in Cork last Sunday week, said she has told their two young daughters that “Daddy is lost”.
“First I told them that Daddy got lost but now I’m thinking I might have to just tell them that he’s in heaven,” Ms Byrne said yesterday as searches for Mr Twomey continued on the outskirts of the city.
It is expected that gardaí will meet again this morning to discuss their options in the case.
It is one of several missing person searches which continued across the city throughout Christmas.
“I was hoping that they’d have found something by now — a body, or a shoe even,” Ms Byrne said.
“But there’s nothing. Not a trace. It’s as if he just vanished off the face of the earth.
“I believe he got into a car. But there is just no evidence to suggest where he went.
“We just don’t know where we go from here. It’s so frustrating. We’ll keep searching until we find answers but it’s hard to stay positive.”
Ms Byrne and her daughters, Lily, three, and Katie, two, spent Christmas Day in her mother’s house, before visiting Mr Twomey’s parents later.
“But it wasn’t the same without him,” said Ms Byrne. “It’s just so puzzling. Someone out there knows something. I would appeal to them to come forward.”
Mr Twomey was last seen alive at around 3am on December 20, near Fairhill.
He planned to take a taxi from a relative’s house home to Ballinahina but he decided to instead walk instead towards Blackstone bridge. He has not been seen since.
His phone was found later that day, at around 11.30am, in a farmyard in Ballinahina. Search dogs traced his scent across fields to a by-road, where the trail went cold. Despite extensive and exhaustive searches since, there have been no confirmed sightings.
Despite a renewed garda appeal on Christmas Eve for information, detectives have admitted they are baffled by Mr Twomey’s disappearance, which they say is totally out of character, and there is nothing to suggest why he would choose to go missing.
Gardaí have appealed to landowners in the Whitechurch and Ballinahina areas to search their lands and outhouses, and they have also appealed to anyone with information, particularly any taxi driver who may have picked up a fare in the Ballinahina area last Sunday matching Mr Twomey’s description, to contact them at Gurranabraher Garda Station 021-4946200, or to call the Garda Confidential Line 1800-666111.
Meanwhile, searches are also continuing for Thomas Rawley, 63, from Bishopstown, Cork, who was last seen around the South Main St area at about 7.30am on December 22. Togher gardaí have appealed to anyone with information to contact them on 021-4947120.
The search for David Mannix, 50, who has been missing since December 12, is also ongoing.
Volunteers from Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery and the Mallow Search and Rescue group are still focusing their efforts on the River Lee.
