“Poor little darlings,” an older woman remarked to her friend as they stood outside the home of siblings Lisa Cash (18) and eight-year-old twins Chelsea and Christy Cawley in Jobstown in Tallaght on Monday evening.
Outside the house, teary-eyed children wearing their school uniforms hugged one another, and laid down bunches of flowers and cuddly toys. Over 200 people gathered on Rossfield Avenue just after 5pm for a vigil to remember the siblings, who were killed at their family home on Sunday night.
Pale pink and blue balloons were released into the sky while music such as Stand By Me by Ben E. King and I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston were played from a speaker.
Candles were placed on the front wall of the children’s home where posters, framed photographs, toy cars and a football also lay.
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“Fly high Chelsea, Christy and Lisa, Rossfield won’t be the same,” said one such poster. “We all love you. Till we meet again.”
Family, friends, neighbours and members of the wider Tallaght community looked on in silence, some visibly upset, while others comforted their children. “There are just no words,” said a woman who lives on Rossfield Avenue. “All of us are shocked…numb. None of us can believe what has happened and all of our hearts are broken for Margaret [their mother]...They were the most beautiful children you could ever meet.”
A young man, joined by his partner and two children, were among those laying flowers outside the house.
“We didn’t know the kids, but our own kids are in St Aidan’s [where Chelsea and Christy attended] so we thought we would come along as a mark of respect,” he said. “I can’t even begin to imagine what that poor family is going through.”
“It is just so, so sad,” a woman said, as she clutched her own young daughter’s hand.
Throughout Monday locals arrived at St Aidan’s Parish Church in Tallaght to pray for the young siblings who were killed nearby in violent circumstances over the weekend.
Brookfield parish priest Fr Bill O’Shaughnessy offered a “listening ear and a shoulder to cry on”. But, he said, there is no magic wand to wish away the devastation caused by the violent deaths of eight-year-old twins Chelsea and Christy Cawley and their 18-year-old sister Lisa Cash.
The incident at a house on Rossfield Avenue, Brookfield, Tallaght, unfolded over a period of at least an hour and was said to have been witnessed by dozens of people, including children who knew the siblings.
A fourth sibling, a 14-year-old boy, managed to escape, apparently by jumping from an upstairs window, which caused him injuries.
The mayor of South Dublin County Council, Cllr Emma Murphy, said devastation was sinking into the community on Monday as the shock began to wear off.
“Adults are unable to comprehend what happened and are now trying to explain to the children why their schoolfriends are not in school today and why there are empty chairs,” she said.
There has been a collective supportive response to the incident, with people pulling together to try to find some solace, she said. But the situation will have a “very real, lasting impact” on Tallaght, she added.
The house around the corner on Rossfield Avenue, where the victims lived and were killed, was still cordoned off on Monday morning. Flowers lay at the scene, with messages describing broken hearts and heaven’s new angels.
A shop worker at a local grocery said the young twins popped in daily, regularly purchasing groceries for their mother. The worker was “devastated” to hear the “most pleasant” siblings would not be visiting again.
“They were just gorgeous,” she said, adding that Christy always looked out for his sister. Their older sister Lisa was softly spoken and was always very polite, the woman added.
