This article is from page 35 of the 2006-12-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 35 JPG
“SHE was lovely – innocent. My child got a death she never deserved and we will never be the same again.”
Those were the words of a mother in torment as she spoke of how the murder last year of her daughter, Ann Walsh, had demolished her world.
“This is something we can never forget, ever. It’s with us every minute of every day. I can never forget that knock on the door at 1.30am on August 24. There are still questions to be answered. When she went out that day, I thought she was coming home. Now I’ll never see her again.”
Ann Walsh senior was addressing a hushed gathering at the council offices in Drumbiggle, for a ceremony to commemorate the 125 women who had been murdered in the last ten years.
She didn’t need words to communicate how her life had been laid waste by the loss of her lovely daughter.
It was evident from her haunted look, her strained face and her eyes, full of pleading for some understanding of how such horror could be.
The family of another murder victim, Geraldine Kissane, were also on hand for the moving ceremony.
Clare Haven Service workers spelled out the figure with 125 candles, each one representing a life that had been cruelly snuffed out.
When the service was being planned, only 124 candles were needed. But by Tuesday, another light had to be added, after Baiba Saulite was gunned down on her own doorstep.
“Every year, we organise this ceremony and we go out to buy a number of candles” said Clare Haven founder, Madeline McAleer. “And every year, by the time the day comes round, we have to add more candles. “
The ceremony was organised as part of the 16 days of action against violence against women.
McAleer told the gathering that the services also acknowledged that men could be victims of domestic violence.
To the strains of Mozart’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ the names of the 125 women were read out.
The scroll of the dead brought heartbreak home as the names of Clare women, Lorraine O’Connor, Ann Walsh, Marguerite O’Dwyer and Geraldine Kissane were read out.
The later murder list was dotted with names of women who had come to these shores from other countries to build new lives. Instead, they found their deaths.
The inclusion of the names of foreign and non-nationals made it clear why women’s services in Clare had chosen to launch their new information leaflets, printed in nine different languages.
There are leaflets in English, Polish, French, Russian, Romanian, Lingala, Arabic, Slovak and Czech.
The information sheets are the work of the Clare Women’s Network, the Refugee Council and Ennis CDP. They were funded by the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform.
The leaflets are available from refugee services, social workers and are currently being distributed to outlets around Clare. And they all say the same thing. No matter what her nationality, if a woman is speaking the language of the beaten, bullied and terrorised, there is help at hand.
Clare Haven Services can be reached at their 24-hour emergency helpline at 065 6822435 or at their daytime office number, 065 6891764.