She loved art, she loved music and she had only just turned 17. She had been in two minds as to whether she was going to go out that night at all. "A very soft, very feminine child," is how Aindi Hynes describes his second daughter, Siobhan, who was murdered near Carraroe in December 1998.
She was due to sit her Leaving Certificate the following summer. Every evening, when she came in from school at Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiarain in Carraroe, she would spend a few minutes on an electronic keyboard.
"It was therapy, a way of switching off," her mother, Brid, says. "She had a great ear, she could pick up any tune from the radio. You'd hear the keyboard again before she went to bed at night."
Speaking to The Irish Times before the trial was due to begin on May 8th in the Central Criminal Court, the couple emphasised the wonderful support they had received from their community on the "islands" beyond Carraroe. "I don't think we were left on our own at all for the first year," Brid Hynes recalls.
"It is that support that has kept us going - at a time when we felt we were getting so little from the State's legal system."
The Garda had been great, according to Siobhan's parents.
On the night of December 5th, 1998, Siobhan had taken a lift with her older sister, Aine, and friends to the village. Aine was going to a local disco in Ostan an Doilin, and her younger sister decided to join her "for the spin". When they arrived at the hotel, Aine got out of the car and it was the last time she saw Siobhan alive.
Siobhan remained in the car, but parted company when she went to try and find a toilet at about 12.40 a.m. She was turned away at a pub, and she headed for the chip shop. She never reached her destination. She was not in bed the next morning when her mother went to wake her up.
"At first we were just waiting for the phone to ring - she would always have called if she was staying with friends."
Shortly after midday, Mrs Hynes rang the gardai. The alert was raised and neighbours turned out.
Aindi remembers how he was driving past the local post office with Aine and Fiona in the car and he saw three girls standing together, talking. "One of them looked just like Siobhan, though she had her back to us. I remember my relief. I stopped the car, told Fiona to get out and let her sister know that half the country was looking for her. She turned round. It wasn't Siobhan. I haven't seen that girl since."
While awaiting trial, the accused received bail despite Garda opposition to his application in the High Court. Mr Michael Hynes, Aindi's brother, who is based in Boston, is critical of this. "Firstly, the accused was allowed bail with restrictions. Secondly, he violated probation and was re-arrested by the police. His bail was revoked by a lower court and he was remanded to prison. However, within a matter of days, the High Court overruled this and he was released on bail once again."
Siobhan's parents, who had never been in a courtroom up until six weeks ago, petitioned the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, to find out why they had to wait so long for the trial to take place. They were disappointed in the response. The official explanation was that there were "not enough judges".
Just over a year ago, classmates of Siobhan in Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiarain in Carraroe raised funds for a memorial garden dedicated to her in the school grounds. Forget-me-nots, a weeping cherry tree and roses were planted around a limestone centrepiece bearing the opening four lines of a poem written in Irish especially for Siobhan by her friend, Una Seoighe.
Speaking after the verdicts yesterday, retired Galway Supt Jim Sugrue said: "I have been involved in 12 murder investigations throughout my service and this was one of the most brutal, horrendous cases that I have ever dealt with."