A five-year-old girl who lost her mother in an arson attack on the family home in Co Cork last week brought drawings and a DVD to the altar as offertory gifts at the requiem mass.
Helena O'Dwyer (25) died alongside her young nephew Ryan in an arson attack at Nutley Avenue in Mahon in Cork city last Sunday. She was laid to rest today.
Helena and Ryan O'Dwyer Hayes (5) were sleeping in an upstairs room of the terraced house when a fire bomb was thrown through the living room window shortly after 3am on Easter Sunday.
Helena's parents have indicated that she had received threatening text messages from a young male and one letter that claimed her home was going to be fire-bombed.
At the Church of the Holy Cross in Mahon there were emotional scenes as Helena's daughter Courtney (5) brought an Easter drawing, a children's DVD "A Simple Wish" and a montage of family photographs to the altar as part of the offertory gifts. Courtney was in the house at the time of the attack but she escaped unharmed.
Chief celebrant at the mass Fr Kazimierz Nawalaniec said the passing of Helena had caused darkness to descend on the parish.
"We have all experienced occasions when the electricity has suddenly and unexpectedly goes out. Everything stops. The lights go out and we are plunged in to darkness. For a while at least we feel lost. We feel helpless and frightened. We want to know why this has happened. Tragic death is almost always sudden. It is like a blackout. One minute the sun is shining and the next it is a dark night. Without the slightest warning."
Fr Nawalaniec said Helena's loved ones had been plunged in to an "impenetrable darkness" following her death. He added that the bereaved would find comfort in the light of Christ.
Helena was laid to rest at St Michael's Cemetery in Blackrock alongside her younger brother, William (14), who died in a car crash in May 2005. Helena's young nephew Ryan was buried in an adjoining plot following his requiem mass yesterday.
The mourners included her parents Joe and Helena Senior, who, along with four others, escaped uninjured from the blaze at the house in Mahon.
A man in his twenties was arrested last Sunday in relation to the incident. A file is to be sent to the DPP after he was released without charge.
The late Helena O'Dwyer was described by locals in Mahon as a friendly outgoing woman who 'doted' on her five year old daughter Courtney. The pair were often seen in local shops and are remembered as being a happy duo who were always laughing together.
Anybody with information or who was in the Nutley Avenue area between 1am and 3.30am on Easter Sunday is asked to contact Blackrock Garda Station at 021-4357401 or Anglesea Street Garda station at (021) 4522000.