‘I know how that mother feels. My Katelyn died in petrol attack’

A LIMERICK mother, whose young daughter was burned to death when the family home was petrol-bombed three years ago, said yesterday she wanted to reach out and embrace Sheila Murray.

Ms Murray’s two children are fighting for their lives after the family car was fire bombed on Sunday.

Four-year-old Katelyn Ryan suffered multiple burns when a petrol bomb was fired into the family home at Lenihan Avenue, Prospect, in April 2003.

She died in the burns unit in Our Lady’s Hospital, Dublin, where Millie and Gavin Murray are currently being treated.

Katelyn’s mum, Jackie Ryan, 37, said yesterday the Moyross atrocity had brought back the horrible memories of her daughter’s death.

Jackie, who was badly burned when she jumped from an upstairs window holding her baby Leah, said: “When I heard about the fire in Moyross on Sunday, the memories of our little Katelyn — and the way she died — all came back.

“She was the same age as the little boy Gavin Murray. I know how that mother must feel. I would love just to reach out and embrace her. What can you say to a mother in that awful nightmare situation?”

When the Ryan home was petrol-bombed, Katelyn hid under a bed and was not found by firemen who fought their way through the blaze.

Jackie said: “When they found Katelyn under the bed in our room, she had 70% burns.”

Her husband, Robert, 38, spent three days and nights at Katelyn’s bedside before she died.

Jackie said the couple remember Katelyn every day, by lighting candles and visiting her grave at Mount St Oliver cemetery.

Jackie said: “Robert and I and the other children go to the grave two times every Sunday.

“We light a little candle every day in the house to remember her. I can imagine what the mother of those two little children is going through.

“I was allowed out of hospital for a day to go to Katelyn’s funeral.”

A Limerick man, Patrick Slattery, was jailed for life by the Central Criminal Court in 2004 for the murder of Katelyn Ryan.