Mother’s heartbreak after 5 teddies stolen from baby daughter’s grave

The mother of a day-old girl who died in September spoke yesterday of her heartbreak that five teddy bears she had placed on her grave had been stolen.

Mary McCarthy begged the thieves to put the toys back, saying it was adding to her grief to think that her baby’s plot could be targeted. Ms McCarthy, a 35-year-old care assistant, could not believe her eyes when she visited the grave of Skylar Hanley, who died on Sept 6, a day after she was born with a congenital organ condition.

Ms McCarthy, from Hospital, Co Limerick, travels to visit Skylar’s grave in Kilteely cemetery twice a week with her partner, Anthony Hanley.

“We always go on a Saturday,” she said. “Last Saturday, we went down at 1pm to discover all her teddy bears were stolen from the grave. We and other members of the families had placed them there since our baby died. They were there on the grave when we visited it the previous Wednesday.

“We then brought another teddy down with us on Saturday with the words ‘I loved you’ on it after we found the others had been taken. After we did some shopping, we came out at 6 o’clock to find that teddy we had brought earlier had also been taken during those few hours.

“I am heartbroken. It’s just cruel to be doing anything like this. I would beg whoever took them to return them. No child’s grave should be targeted. We don’t want anybody to get into trouble over this; all we want is for them to put the teddies back. We are devastated that this could happen.”

She and Anthony, meanwhile, are planning to get married next year.