Mother: ‘I will miss son forever’

The heartbroken mother of a 31-year-old man who was fatally stabbed in Cork City broke down in tears at his Requiem Mass and said she would “love and miss him forever”.

Mark Hanlon, a father of one, from Lios Ard, Lotamore, Mayfield, was killed in a stabbing incident at Infirmary Road on the south side of Cork City in the early hours of May 6.

Mourners filled the Church of Our Lady Crowned in Mayfield yesterday to pay sympathy to his partner Catherine, son Darren, 8, parents Isabell and Paul, along with his brothers and sisters, Karen, Dean, Corey and Megan, on their tragic loss.

Darren, who will make his First Holy Communion at the same church on Saturday, brought the bread to the altar during the offertory procession. At the end of the Mass, he had to be carried in his mother’s arms behind his father’s coffin, to the strains of You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Parish priest Fr Aidan O’Driscoll described Mr Hanlon’s death as a “terrible tragedy” and said there was still a sense of disbelief and shock in the community after his death.

He described Mr Hanlon as a loving son and brother and a great friend.

“It’s extremely difficult, almost impossible to make any sense of your tragic loss,” Fr O’Driscoll said, addressing the family. “Your loss is beyond words. It’s beyond description. The feelings of shock and abhorrence at this mindless and senseless act leaves us numb inside and out.”

Speaking at the end of the concelebrated Mass, his mother Isabell became overwhelmed. “I can’t believe my Mark is gone. I love you my darling,” she said, before leaving the altar in tears.