Kerry victims had planned to return to Lithuania

A 27-year-old woman found murdered in her rented home in Killorglin, Co Kerry, had been looking forward to returning permanently to her native Lithuania in the coming weeks.

Jolanta Lubiene is believed to have purchased travel tickets for herself and daughter, Enrika, 8, and had also made arrangements to sell her modified Honda Civic.

The reason she was returning home was to be with her father, Rimantas Santa, who is seriously ill with liver cancer, and her mother, Ramote, close friends disclosed.

Her husband, Marius Lubys, 30, who left Killorglin six months ago, yesterday flew in from Sweden where he had been working and spent the day at the home of Jolanta’s sister, Kristina, in Milltown, about 10km from Killorglin.

Mr Lubys met reporters, but said he found it difficult to talk, adding he was too upset to talk about his love for his young daughter.

“The last time I spoke to Jolanta was in April. We planned to move home. She was going back to Lithuania but now that will not happen,’’ he said in broken English.

They had discussed the possibility of working together in Sweden and leaving Enrika with Jolanta’s mother, in Lithuania, he said.

“She was nice, good person and when we moved here first we were going to work here for some time and then go home,’’ Mr Lubys said. “In 2005 we came to Ireland . . . only in the past year she began to talk about going home.

“We have been together since I was 19-year-old and she was 17-year-old.”

Meanwhile, in Langford Downs Estate, Killorglin, residents spoke of their horror about what had happened to a hard-working mother and daughter who were peaceful neighbours.

The last positive sighting of Jolanta was in the estate, on Friday evening, but there is also an unconfirmed report she was seen on Saturday.

A Langford Downs neighbour, who asked not be named, said he heard “really loud’’ noise, which appeared to be from a Lithuanian radio station, coming from her house at around 8.45am, on Saturday.

Friends became concerned when they did not see her over the weekend and she was not answering phone calls. One of the friends went to her house on Sunday and when there was no response to knocks on the door decided to alert the Garda, who made the horrific discovery inside at about 8.30 that night.

Jolanta’s sister, Kristina, was one of the people to visit the scene yesterday and left a plant at the house. She was distraught and was comforted by close friends. Other people brought floral tributes.

Polish man Artur Liberi, who lives a few doors away, told the Irish Examiner he knew her for several years and said both he and his wife, Renata, had worked with her. The Liberis have a six-year-old son, Nikolai.

Jolanta and Enrika travelled to school in Killorglin each day with Renata and Nikolai and all knew each other very well.

“We’re speechless and amazed why someone could do something like this. I can’t stop thinking why someone should do that. They were a quiet family,” said Mr Liberi. “The last time I saw her was on Friday when she came to our house and drove to school with my wife and son. The little girl played with our son every day. She would also be out playing with other kids. It’s so sad.”

Another neighbour, Sally Henry, who lives just a few doors away, said she realised something was wrong when she saw Garda cars outside the house at around 8.30 on Sunday night.

“When I then saw the scene of crime tape coming out, I knew it was something serious. We don’t expect anything like that in this estate. Everyone here is very shocked,” she said.

Ms Henry recalled seeing little Enrika cycling around the estate, while another neighbour said he gave her lessons recently on cycling up a ramp.

Peter Keane, owner of the SuperValu supermarket, in Killorglin, where Jolanta worked for about a year and a half, said she was a nice lady and a good employee in the delicatessen.

“It’s very sad to see two young lives taken in such circumstances,” he said.

More recently, she worked in St Joseph’s Nursing Home, Killorglin, where management declined to speak to reporters yesterday.

Killorglin parish priest Canon Michael Fleming said there was a sense of devastation in the area and air of sadness hung over the community. Prayers were said for all concerned, he added.

Local Independent councillor Michael Cahill said the area woke up to “absolutely terrible” news yesterday. He said Jolanta was popular and reasonably well known in Killorglin.

No sooner had news broken at breakfast-time yesterday than members of the broadcast and print media began to arrive in Langford Downs, a quiet estate where both local people and non-nationals live.

Number nine, a peach-coloured, semi-detached house was cordoned off with a crime scene tape and the scene was being preserved by gardaí. By midday a Garda Technical Bureau van was pulled up outside the house and the scene was also visited by Kerry’s most senior Garda officer, Chief Supt Pat Sullivan, and Det Supt Jim Browne, Limerick.

Assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster entered the house accompanied by Garda forensic experts and a preliminary examination got under way. Plain clothes gardaí also began making door-to-door inquiries.

Confirmation of a full-scale murder investigation is expected today.