Sharon and two girls laid to rest

“THREE of the brightest lights in our family went out on Christmas morning,” said the brother of Sharon Whelan yesterday, the woman who was found dead with her two daughters after a house fire.

“These lights went out and our family’s lives will never be the same again,” said Davey Whelan at the funeral of his sister Sharon, 30, and her two daughters Zsara, 7, and Nadia, 2, in Windgap, Co Kilkenny.

Hundreds of mourners gathered in the tiny parish church to pay their final respects to the two little girls who perished in the fire and their “wonderful mother” who gardaí now believe may have been strangled before the house was set alight.

“Sharon was a wonderful mother to her two girls and they never wanted for anything,” said Mr Whelan.

“It wasn’t an easy life for Sharon trying to raise the two girls as a single mother but she did a fantastic job and the support and love she got from her family kept her going.

“Our mother and father looked on those girls as their own and their lives were made all the more richer with them around every day,” he said.

“It’s so hard to try and make sense of this. I don’t think we ever can,” Mr Whelan told a packed church.

Mourners had gathered for hours before the two hearses arrived, one carrying the coffin of Sharon and the other containing the two small, white coffins of her children.

Local parish priest Fr Martin Cleere told the congregation “there are no words on an occasion like this”.

“At this time of year we celebrate light coming into the darkness of the world,” said Fr Cleere.

“All we have to do is look at the news and see how dark the world is and we ask where can we find light?” he said.

The bodies of Sharon, Zsara and Nadia were all taken from Sharon’s blazing cottage at 9am on Christmas morning. They were all discovered in their beds to the rear of the house.

A large Garda investigation was launched after postmortem results showed there was no smoke in Sharon’s lungs and that there were ligature marks on her neck.

Smoke was found in the lungs of Nadia and Zsara indicating they died as a result of the fire.

Gardaí are now investigating the possibility that Ms Whelan was strangled before fire swept through their isolated farmhouse.

The dead woman’s brother yesterday thanked the emergency services and neighbours for trying to save their lives.

“I don’t think I can find the words to thank you enough,” he said.

“When Zsara, Nadia and Sharon left us they took a huge part of us with them,” said Mr Whelan.

“Although these three bright lights have gone, they will shine brighter than ever where they are now and even more so in the hearts of our family.”

Bishop of Ossory Mgn Seamus Freeman conveyed the sympathies and condolences of the diocese to the Whelan family “on the very tragic death of a young mother and her precious, precious children”.

“All of us are called to go beyond the tragedy and to transform the sadness of now into an ongoing commitment to good,” said Bishop Freeman.

Gardaí are continuing to examine the scene at Roscon near Windgap.