Bright Star

MIKE DILLON was on his way to work a year ago today when he heard the nine o’clock news headlines.

"I put on the radio to get the weather at five to nine and it said a staff member had been killed in Jurys Inn, Limerick. So I rang Gráinne's mobile number and I couldn't get her.

"I then rang the hotel and a girl came on and said they weren't taking any calls."

"We knew there were only two members of staff on duty, and Gráinne was one of them. Anyone in the family could have heard the news to say that a member of the night staff was dead."

He knew instinctively his daughter was dead but it couldn't be confirmed until he arrived in Limerick.

Twenty-four-year-old Gráinne had been killed while working as a trainee manager in Jurys Inn, Limerick.

A newly recruited member of staff was later arrested and charged with murder but the case has yet to come to court.

A year later, on the anniversary of her death, the Dillon family from Annmount, Glounthaune, Co Cork, is still numbed by the events of last January. But they take some solace from the happiness Gráinne brought to other people's lives.

"When you do think of Gráinne, you can't help but end up laughing or smiling. She certainly enjoyed life," says her sister Cliona, 30, a social worker.

"The staff in the hotel said that every morning she'd be smiling, she never stopped smiling. She was so helpful in training the receptionists in and things like that. The training manager told us she'd always be joking."

"When she got a phone call to say she'd been accepted to Jurys' graduate training programme, she was absolutely delighted. We went out that night to celebrate but we had to go to Jurys on the Western Road to see what the uniform was like."

Gráinne's mother, Pat, says that as well as her infectious sense of fun, she was a responsible young woman who took her job seriously.

Gráinne was a lifeguard in her early teens. She worked as a volunteer in a Polish hospital and part-time in a number of well-known Cork pubs while still in college. She always carried organ donor cards just in case.

Gráinne also had ambitions of becoming a human resources manager after being accepted onto the Jurys' training programme in August 2001.

"One time we called in to see her in the hotel in Limerick. Even though she was on a coffee break, she couldn't sit down and was making sure everyone was attended to.

"When she got the job Dad sent a card to her saying: 'director in five year's time!'. It epitomised Gráinne. She worked very hard at what she did. She didn't take shortcuts."

The last time they saw her was on December 29, 2001, before she headed back up to Limerick after the Christmas break.

"We met in Aoife Landers," recalls her sister Aoife, 29, a PhD student in Maynooth. "There were three groups of people in the bar, and she knew everyone. She waved at one, said hello to another, and then went up talking to the bar staff.

"Gráinne was never someone you thought needed protecting, She wasn't your meek baby sister, she was outgoing, confident and full of life."

The impact of Gráinne's death on the family, however, has been devastating.

"The person who did it didn't just kill Gráinne," says Cliona. "To an extent the person killed all of us."

Cliona has moved back from Belfast to Cork, as she felt she couldn't continue working as a social worker in the criminal justice system there her place was with the family.

Gráinne's mother Patricia will never return to her job as sales manager in the Golden Pages in Cork. Her father Michael and younger brother Micheál, 22, have both been in hospital. Tomás, 23, has had to return to Limerick, the place of Gráinne's death, to resume his studies in the University of Limerick, surrounded by memories of his vibrant sister.

Christmas for the family this year was an especially traumatic ordeal.

"For 20 years we've had the same friends on Christmas morning," says Mike Dillon, a ship surveyor. "Nobody knocks, they walk in, it's an open house. This year it was a non-event. We didn't want people around. The phones were off the hook."

Cliona says they still find it difficult to get through each day and night, knowing what happened to Gráinne.

"If you walk into the kitchen at five o'clock in the morning, you'll find one of us. None of us can sleep an entire night.

"It's the small things. When Micheál passed his driving test this year, before he came home and told anyone of us, he went over to Gráinne's grave and told her. She is still so much apart of the family."

Friends and neighbours have also played a major role in helping the family through, says Pat.

"The neighbours were brilliant. When we came home from Limerick last January, they had cut the grass, cut the hedges, and taken down all the Christmas decorations.

"When we went into the undertaker to arrange a grave, they said it had all been taken care of. One side of the graveyard was full and she was to be the first in the new section. But a kind couple in Little Island donated one of their plots, because they didn't want her in an open field."

While the last year has been devastating, it has strengthened the bond between the family members which will never be broken.

"I think it would have been very easy for this to destroy the family," says Cliona. "In the aftermath we all dealt with it very, very differently. Some were angry and wanted revenge, while others became more introverted. It would have been very easy for that to tear us apart because we couldn't cope."

"My motivation was to look after our mum and dad, because you really realise that when something like this happens, we're all that we've got."

There is still a deep anger among the family over the circumstance of Gráinne's death and how the criminal justice system operates.

Mike Dillon says the uncertainty of when a trial will be held is very difficult.

"We have a serious complaint about the way families are treated. We are still awaiting confirmation of a trial date which we believe will take place in two months.

"We've nothing on paper from the justice system of this country to tell us what's happening. We've had nothing from the coroner's court, nothing from any judge or court official. There is a criminal system there. The guards complain that they're not told what's going on. This isn't just the Dillons this is going to happen to any family."

A family liaison officer, who is supposed to keep families abreast of any developments related to the investigation, was appointed but has not made contact with the family since the day of the murder.

Gráinne's parents believe this is due to lack of resources and pressure on the gardaí.

Cliona, who has previously worked with offenders in her job, is also appalled at the way families of victims are treated.

"The attitude is that you've no part to play. It's very much as if Gráinne has becomes a statistic. We have no input that's very difficult because she's our sister."

The delay in being informed over Gráinne's death still hurts, says Mike. Three hours after gardaí and hotel management in Dublin knew she was dead, the family still had not been contacted.

The circumstances of her death are also difficult to accept. Gráinne was one of two staff members on duty in a hotel with almost 300 guests, yet she died alone.

The happy memories of Gráinne never fade, though. They still remember the young woman who would breeze into the room with a smile on her face and a joke for everyone.

Cliona and Aoife decided after her death to register a star in her name, as a constant reminder of the light she brought into people's lives.

"Every time we see a bright star, it's Gráinne. We can talk to her in the sky. It feels like she's with us, she's always around us."