‘We want him home, want him to be at home with us’

Majella and Mark Holohan said they were baffled by their eldest son’s disappearance.

The ditching of his new silver BMX bike, a Christmas gift he adored, has exacerbated their fears of an accident or possibly an abduction.

“We want him home tonight, want him to be at home with us,” said his mother, as day three of a search came to a close. “We don’t care what’s after happening, whoever has him, please let him go and send him home to me tonight.”

Her husband Mark said: “You hear of this happening to other people, you just don’t expect it.”

The heartbroken mother said the family is devastated. “We can’t describe it really,” she said. “Robert is our eldest child and we love him very much.

“We are not sleeping, we are not eating. We can’t believe this has happened.”

In an interview with RTÉ’s Paschal Sheehy she said: “Everybody in Midleton knows Robert, he’s a very happy boy, he loves talking to people.

“He’s opinionated, you know, like every 11-year-old, but a lovely boy.”

As day three of the search came to a close, Majella said: “The days are going on, we are getting worried. He seems to have dis-appeared, we are not sure how, everybody is baffled at this stage.”

She said Robert was not in the habit of staying overnight with friends. “Never, never,” she said, “we always collect him. If he’s over at the horses, we always make contact by mobile phone.”

She disclosed her son was frightened of the dark.

“He is scared. Even if he is down at a friend’s house, we would always go down and walk back up with him.”

On the night before his disappearance, he attended a GAA function where he was presented with a medal.

“The day he went missing, he got up at 10 o’clock which was late for Robert. He had his breakfast, watched television and we fed the dog.

“He went out on his bike and started building a ramp. He had his lunch, went out again on the bike and that was the last I saw of him.”

Robert, she said, would not have abandoned his new bike.

“He loved it, he was cleaning it that morning, working on it.”

Majella said she phoned her son around 4pm to ask him what he wanted for dinner and to ask him to clear the ramp from the driveway.

“It rang out, I rang him again at 4.30 or around 4.45pm. At that stage, the phone was on the answering machine. We kept ringing. When Mark came home from work at 5.30, we were worried because he hates the dark.

“We rang around a few neighbours and then called in the gardaí.”

As the nightmare continue for the couple, Majella said: “I can’t think of anything but Robert.”

She said the people of Midleton and those who took part in the searches were fantastic. She also commended gardaí, including detective Mick O’Sullivan and Supt Liam Hayes.