Memories recalled at anniversary Mass

BEAUTIFUL memories of a fun-loving girl who was stabbed to death at her home in Rochestown, Cork, were recalled at her first anniversary Mass yesterday.

Friends and family in the 350-strong congregation wept openly in the Prince of Peace Church, Fossa, Killarney, Co Kerry, as tributes were paid to 20-year-old Nichola Sweeney.

The celebrant, Fr Charles Owen from London, a friend of the Sweeney family, said Nichola was in their midst and, whilst they were still heart-broken, she would one day share her joy in God’s presence with them.

“We are celebrating her wonderful life that cannot be taken away from us. She can be killed or murdered, but cannot be taken from us and one day we will see her again.

"We will recognise her and say, ‘Nichola, we are with you for ever and ever in God’s presence’,” he said.

Fr Owen, who had also celebrated her funeral Mass, said he and everyone else missed a beautiful, fun-loving girl who had enjoyed every day of her life and brought happiness wherever she went.

She was still the same person and he was sure she was with God in heaven.

Remarking that words were inadequate to express people’s feelings following such a tragedy, he said: “Nichola is close to us, closer than we could ever recognise. She wants us to be happy and is doing her best to make us so.”

Family and friends accompanied her parents, John and Josephine (nee Breen), from Glenbeigh and Beaufort, Co Kerry, respectively, and their sons Christopher and Sean, at the Mass.

Some of Nichola’s favourite songs, including If Tomorrow Never Comes, were sung during the ceremony.

In a tribute from the altar at the end of the Mass, Sean Sweeney, aged 18, said the past 12 months had been the strangest and loneliest in his life.

The feeling of emptiness at the loss of his ‘big sister’ was indescribable, he said.

She was a person he had always looked up to and asked for guidance and he now sometimes envied friends who had sisters.

Thanking people for their support for the family, he said they could not have coped without the huge help and concern they had received.

He also said Sinead O’Leary, a friend of Nichola’s who was in the Sweeney home with her on the night of her murder, had been “so strong”.