‘Innocent, shy boy left an indelible mark’

A proud father of a 17-year-old student killed in a horrific car crash moved mourners to tears at his funeral when he spoke in glowing terms of his “innocent, quiet, shy boy” who had “left an indelible mark” on his family.

John Stoker was speaking at the requiem Mass yesterday for his son Robert, who died in an incident near Bansha, Co Tipperary, on Monday, along with Mary Enright, 28, who was due to give birth to her first child in six weeks.

Members of Robert Stoker’s family carried his coffin a few yards from his home in Monkstown, Co Cork, to the local Sacred Heart Church as his fifth-year classmates from Presentation Brothers College in the city formed a guard of honour.