Vigil held for 174 female victims killed since 1996

A vigil has been held to remember the 174 women who were violently murdered in the past 16 years.

The memorial took place close to the home of Irene White in Dundalk, Co Louth, where she was stabbed to death seven years ago.

Her sister Anne Delcassian said the event was a time for friends and family to remember the mother of three and demand change to make women safer in their own homes.

She has launched the European Alliance Justice For Families, which wants to develop family justice centres across Europe and make changes in legislation.

“The vigil is about change,” said Ms Delcassian. “I want to look at what changes can be made to make women safer in their own homes; how change can be implemented and developed.”

She said the vigil was also an important reminder to those involved in the planning and execution of Ms White’s murder to contact investigators. “Irene left her home on Apr 6, 2005, driving her three children to school,” she said.

“However, Irene returned home and a man we believe was known to Irene murdered Irene in her kitchen.”

Ms Delcassian — who believes her sister feared for her safety and knew she was going to be killed — called on a suspect seen running through a nearby park and getting into a dark-coloured car parked with its engine revving to come forward: “I would like to meet you and ask you to face me, and answer my questions.

“Did you not know that my mother would discover her beloved daughter’s body, with the wounds you had left and the blood pouring on to the kitchen floor?

“This killed my mother. It was such a cruel, cruel deed.”

Other families of victims also attended the vigil in the Ice House Hill Park.

When Ms Delcassian first held a vigil in 2007, on the second anniversary of her sister’s death, 126 women murdered since 1996 were represented. “Now the figure stands at over 174 female homicide victims,” she said.

“So nothing has changed in the last five years.”