The local community is struggling to come to terms with the tragic sudden deaths of a mother and her daughter in their midst, writes Carl O'Brienin Letterkenny
As they collected their children from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál in Letterkenny yesterday, parents held their children's hands tightly, waiting for the inevitable questions about their missing school friend.
"It's hard to provide an answer when we can't explain it ourselves," said one mother who stood in the driving rain, waiting for her five-year-old daughter. "The only thing we can do is try to answer their questions as honestly as we can." Another mother, Kim, whose daughter was in Caitlín's class, said her daughter had heard about the girl's death on the radio that morning.
"They all made their Holy Communion over the weekend, they were all talking about it . . . now, I just don't know what to say," she said, breaking into tears.
It is a dilemma shared by many parents in Letterkenny. The community is baffled and distressed by tragic sudden deaths in their midst. As much as they look for answers, they are hard to find.
Caitríona Innes (26) and her daughter Caitlín (7) were found dead in their home at their neatly maintained, semi-detached house at Whitethorn Close, Letterkenny, on Tuesday afternoon.
On the surface, at least, it seemed as if they were the happiest of families with much to look forward to. Caitríona worked as a sales representative in McNutts, a company selling Irish linen, and had just finished a two-year business course.
"She was very popular and well liked by all the staff," said managing director William McNutt. "She left here on Friday, a happy girl and going to collect the keys of her new home." Caitríona, a lone parent, had been due to move into a new council house on Monday morning.
"She seemed absolutely fine to me," said one neighbour. "Whenever I saw her, she'd beep the horn or flash the lights. I never even suspected that something might be wrong."
Few appeared to know her well, however. On Whitethorn Close - a mixture of rented and owner-occupied houses - most residents said they knew her to see rather than to talk to.
Caitlín had been excited about making her Holy Communion on Saturday and practised her reading for the Mass at St Eunan's cathedral dozens of times. She was also looking forward to her eighth birthday, which she would have celebrated yesterday.
Her grandparents made the trip up from Bundoran for the occasion. "She was so well dressed and she never missed a day of school," said one neighbour. "She was gorgeous. With her blonde hair, she looked like a small Paris Hilton."
The first sign that something might be amiss was on Monday morning when she did not appear at school.
School bus driver Cathal McGettigan, who usually picked Caitlín up, found the blinds down in all the downstairs windows of the house, while the car remained in the driveway.
"It was unusual not to see her. When she wasn't there the next day, it was a real shock," he said. "I blew the horn and stayed for five minutes." The babysitter, who lives just around the corner, eventually alerted authorities, who broke into the house on Tuesday afternoon.
Within hours the quiet housing estate was cordoned off by gardaí, who conducted a forensic search of the premises.
By yesterday, the only sign that the house had been occupied was a purple fluffy toy on an upstairs window sill.
As news began to filter out, the sense of shock spread. By the next morning even the school bus, normally riotous and chaotic, was quiet. At the school, teachers and pupils said prayers for Caitlín, her mother and family.
Róisín Uí Fhearraigh, principal of Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál, said the children and teachers were still coming to terms with the tragedy.
"These are very sad and tragic circumstances, and our prayers and thoughts are with the family at this time. The school community have and will continue to pray for all those affected by this very sad and tragic event."
Meanwhile, parents made their way home yesterday after school, wondering how to speak to their children about the tragedy and how to understand it themselves. "You never know what people are going through or what they're thinking sometimes," said one father waiting for his two daughters. "Whatever happened, she must have felt incredibly distressed. We'll probably never know what happened. Only one person knows and she's not around to tell us."