Family and friends hold vigil outside home of murder victim

Family and friends of murder victim Siobhán Kearney held a prayer vigil outside her home in Goatstown, Dublin, yesterday, marking nine months since her body was returned to her family following her death.

Ms Kearney (38), a mother of one, was found in a bedroom of her home on January 31st last. She had been strangled with the cord of a vacuum cleaner.

Her three-year-old son Dan was found in the house as his mother lay dead upstairs.

No one has been charged in relation to the killing.

Almost 200 people held candles and sang hymns as Ms Kearney's parents held a large portrait photograph of their daughter. Her sisters and other family members held smaller versions of the same photograph.

Ms Kearney's sister Aisling McLoughlin renewed the family's appeal for the killer, or anyone with information, to go to the Garda.

The family had been in "constant torment" since the murder, Ms McLoughlin said.

"It is the family of Siobhán that has to serve a life sentence, not the person who killed Siobhán."

Ms Kearney was "the most adoring and adorable mother, sister and daughter any one could ever wish for" and was a wonderful mother to her young son, Ms McLoughlin said.

"There is a large gaping hole in the side of our family that will never heal."

She thanked all those who had supported her parents through their grief.

Fr Ivan Tonge, a family friend, led a decade of the Rosary and prayed for peace for Ms Kearney's loved ones.

"The suddenness and brutality of Siobhán's death has left so many of us angry and lacking in peace in our lives," he said.

This Christmas would be "very poignant" as it was the first the family had to face without her, Fr Tonge said.

The vigil closed with a rendition of Silent Night.

Ms Kearney and her husband Brian owned a small upmarket hotel in the Sóller region of Majorca. They bought it in late 2002 and opened it in early 2003.

In recent years they had lived in Ireland in the winter, spending the tourist season working at the hotel.