Stardust inquest: Keegan family were handed two bags with Mary and Martina's jewellery
Members of the Keegan family (left to right) Suzanne, Antoinette and Lorraine at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin last month. “That day changed the family and we have never been the same since.” Photo: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos
The parents of Mary (19) and Martina (16) Keegan spent two days at the city morgue before they were handed two plastic bags by a member of the gardaí.
“One bag contained a necklace and the other, two rings,” their sister Lorraine told the Stardust inquests. “My mam could positively identify the rings as Martina’s, one was a signet ring with the initials MK on it and the other was a Claddagh ring, which I am wearing on my hand today.”
Lorraine was asked to identify the necklace, which she knew as Mary’s. She said: “My mam started shouting ‘Mary, Martina where are you? Mary, Martina I’m here. Please not my Mary and Martina, not my Mary and Martina’.”
The family were told that they couldn’t see their daughters, and that it would be a closed coffin. They were told to “remember them as they were”. “That day changed the family and we have never been the same since,” Lorraine said. “Our happy family days were gone. Our happy family home was gone.”
This was the seventh day of the Stardust inquests before the coroner’s court at the Pillar Room in Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital. Family members of each of the victims are getting the opportunity to talk about their loved one before the inquest moves to the evidence proper.
Each day has been marked with emotional testimony as the bereaved describe their loved ones and the impact the Stardust fire has had. Members of the Keegan would go on to help spearhead the various campaigns on behalf of the families of victims, including parents John and Christine, and their sister Antoinette.
Mary and Martina had attended the Stardust that night with Antoinette, their friend Mary Kenny and Martina’s boyfriend David Morton. Only Antoinette survived.
Both Mary and Martina were described with love and fondness by their siblings at the inquest hearing. They were both hard workers, who wanted to help their families, and who had plenty of plans for what they wanted to do in life. They and 46 others wouldn’t get the chance.
Damien Keegan, the youngest of the siblings, recalled asking his mother when Mary and Martina would come home.
“I would sit on our doorstep and wait for my sister to come home every day for months after Mary was killed. I was only three-and-a-half and couldn’t understand why Mary never came home or walked up the path again,” he said.
Eugene Kelly was a key campaigner for Stardust families, in their long push for new inquests. He lost his younger brother Robert in the fire. Just a week after the very first pre-inquest hearing in October 2020, Eugene passed away.
Speaking on behalf of the Kelly family were Eugene’s daughter Mandy and Antoinette Keegan. “I am privileged to do this on behalf of the Kelly family,” Antoinette said.
“I do it in honour of Robert’s brother Eugene, who was a dear friend of mine for over two decades.
The pair described Robert’s love of music. And of his mother. He had turned 17 two weeks before the Stardust, and with the money he’d gotten he bought his mother a record 'Woman' by the recently deceased John Lennon.
Robert worked on ships but had time off during the Stardust. He was originally turned away by the bouncer but got in with his friend Paul Nolan.
“Paul Nolan recalls the last time Robert Kelly was seen alive was at the Stardust,” Antoinette said. “He was standing in front of the stage with Michael Barrett while Michael was bending over helping the DJ with the records. They were laughing and joking. Then they noticed the fire.”
Mandy described how Robert loved Coca-Cola. His mother, who’d buy him the drink, would also say his teeth would fall out if he drank so much. He was later identified by his dental records.
She described the effect Robert’s death had on her family, and her father. “I knew Robert’s death took my dad’s life away,” she said. “My dad was like a lost child, that never grew up, he lived in the shadow of the Stardust.”
In the first pen portrait of the day, another long-time supporter of the Stardust families took the floor. After Christy Moore spoke for one of the families the day before, Charlie Bird stood up to present the pen portrait on behalf of the family of Robert ‘Bobby’ Hillick with words put together by Bobby’s brother Bill.
Speaking with the aid of a voice simulator, Mr Bird described how Bobby grew up in Belfast and lost his father from cancer at a young age.
“Bobby’s death really took its toll on me and I went to England for many years to try to block out that it had happened,” he said on behalf of Bill.
“I couldn’t cope with it and being at home was being constantly faced with his loss. Even now I still don’t think I will ever get over it. We just had a two-year age difference. We were so close, and I miss my brother so much.”
