‘Rose was an only child and her children were her life’

SHE lived for her kids — her kids were her life.

That was how shocked friends of Rosarie (Rose) Patterson yesterday remembered the 30-year-old mother-of-three who was brutally stabbed to death in West Cork on Thursday.

“She loved her kids, she adored them. She was an only child and so always wanted a family,” said close family friend and neighbour, Karen McCarthy.

Karen lives a few doors from where Rose lived with her three children, Naomi, aged eight, Veronica, aged five, and their little step-brother, two-and-a-half year-old Ferhan, in the tight-knit Park View Estate in Clonakilty.

Karen has been caring for the two girls since their mother’s murder.

Ferhan was being cared for yesterday by Justin Crowley, the owner of For Fir barber shop where Ferhan’s father, and Rose’s ex-partner, 32-year-old Turkish national, Hadim Kedik, lived and worked.

Mr Crowley discovered Rose’s blood-soaked body in the flat when he called to find out why Mr Kedik hadn’t show up for work. He declined to comment when he called to Karen’s house yesterday.

All three children are completely unaware of the tragedy unfolding around them. The two girls laughed as they played with friends in the sunshine outside Karen’s house.

They drove a peddle cart up and down the road as detectives drove by in an unmarked car to examine their family home just around the corner.

Naomi, who turned eight on Wednesday, also played with a pink Nintendo DS, which she got as a birthday present yesterday. But her mother wasn’t around to see the joy in her face.

And her mother won’t be around to see her receive her First Holy Communion next month.

Neighbour Mary O’Crowley said Rose was really looking forward to the ceremony.

“I saw her on Monday and she was in great form. She was really excited about Naomi’s Communion. She was a very quite neighbour — the nicest you could meet,” she said.

Rose’s close friend, Ann Kingston, was too upset to talk in detail about her.

“She had loads of friends. She was always bubbly, a great mother. I’m just devastated,” she said, before breaking down.

Neighbour Catherine Banville said Rose would be remembered as a wonderful mother and a dear, special friend.

She recalled the shock and joy in her friend’s face when she walked in to McElhatton’s pub last month to discover friends had thrown her a surprise 30th birthday party.

“She didn’t go out much. She was just devoted to her kids. But she was in fantastic form that night and threw her arms around everyone. She was delighted to see everyone,” she said.

It is understood that Rose and Mr Kedik began their relationship about a year before Ferhan was born. But the relationship ended before Christmas and Mr Kedik was said to have been devastated.

Some friends spoke yesterday of their surprise when they saw him turn up at a disco to see Rose after her 30th birthday party.

Despite this, and other awkward moments, they had an arrangement which saw her dropping Ferhan off to his father’s flat above the barber shop every Wednesday — his day off.

Rose parked her navy Ford Escort across the street, as usual on Wednesday afternoon, and called to the flat with Ferhan. Her daughters were waiting at home for her, excited about Veronica’s birthday party.

But she was murdered sometime between 2am and 3am as Ferhan slept nearby. The two girls spent the night alone in Park View wondering where their mother was.

Her body was found with stab wounds at about 11.40am on Thursday morning. Gardaí had to break in to Rose’s home later to find the two little girls.

Their father, a Nigerian national who lives in Bandon, visited them briefly yesterday morning.

All three siblings were temporarily reunited last night in their uncle’s house in Clonakilty where their grandmother, Rose’s mother, Ann, is staying.