A priest has paid tribute to the three siblings tragically killed in a horrific knife frenzy in Ireland ahead of their funeral today, where thousands are expected to attend.
Lisa Cash, 18, and eight-year-old twin siblings, Christy and Chelsea Cawley will be laid to rest at Bohernabreena Cemetery following their funeral mass at St Aidan’s Church in Brookfield at 10am.
A large crowd of mourners, including their grief-stricken mother Margaret ‘Twink’ Cash McDonagh, 40, gathered yesterday to watch as the children’s remains were brought to the church by a horse-drawn carriage.
She was consoled by friends and relatives as she broke down in tears as the bodies were taken to St Aidan’s in Tallaght while a man played the bagpipes ahead of today’s funeral.
In the church grounds, Lisa’s coffin was taken first to the church door followed by Chelsea and Christy’s in unison, The Irish Mirror reported.
Father Paul O’Driscoll bless their remains before a short service was held in which he said: ‘We have been robbed of three young lives.’
Older brother Andy Cash, 24, has been charged with killing his three younger siblings in a horrific rampage in the early hours of Sunday morning at their home up the road in Rossfield Avenue, Tallaght.
Margaret Cash McDonagh is consoled as the coffins of her children arrive at St Aidan’s Church, Brookfield, Tallaght
The coffins of Lisa Cash, 18, and her eight-year-old twin siblings, Christy and Chelsea Cawley, make their way to St Aidan’s Church
A lone piper walks in front of the coffins of Lisa Cash, 18, and her eight-year-old twin siblings, Christy and Chelsea Cawley, as they make their way to St Aidan’s Church
The coffins of Lisa Cash, 18, and her eight-year-old twin siblings, Christy and Chelsea Cawley, make their way to St Aidan’s Church, Brookfield, Tallaght, ahead of their removal service
At the church, Lisa’s coffin was carried in first, while twin siblings Chelsea and Christy’s coffins were brought in together afterwards
Fr O’Driscoll said the children were ‘cherished’ by their mother, adding: ‘Lisa, Chelsea and Christy will be forever loved and very sadly missed by their heartbroken family. We have been robbed of three young lives.
‘Their genetic family, their family of faith, not only are they robbed of their lives but they have been robbed of all of their innocence, our sense of what is normal.
‘People are stopping each other in the streets and the shops in disbelief, how could this happen?’
At about 9.20pm on Monday, Cash appeared before a special sitting of Dublin District Court, charged with three courts of murder.
Cash of Tallaght, south Dublin, stood when requested by Judge McNamara so she could formally identify him at the special sitting.
McNamara remanded Nash in custody. He will appear before Cloverhill district court at 10am on Friday via video link.
Cash allegedly stabbed Lisa when she tried to protect the twins, while their 14-year-old brother managed to escape through a window and call for help, the Irish Sun reported.
Lisa’s body was found at the bottom of the stairs with apparent stab wounds.
It is believed that older sister Lisa was babysitting at the time they lost their lives.
Yesterday, three local schools united in grief, and together tried to find a way to explain the deaths of three young people to classmates and friends and minds too young to grasp what happened in that home.
Balloons were released into the air in their memory, while schoolchildren and friends broke down in tears as their parents struggled to find the words to comfort them.
Eight-year-old twins Christy and Chelsea Cawley were stabbed to death in their home in Ireland on Sunday morning
Lisa Cash, 18, who along with her two younger siblings died in a violent incident at a house in Tallaght, Dublin
The victims’ 14-year-old brother was taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries, and their mother was released from hospital on Sunday and is being supported by her family.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has expressed his ‘deepest sympathies’ to their family, and said that the ‘terrible tragedy’ had ‘left the nation shocked and very saddened’, while Garda Commissioner Drew Harris described the deaths as ‘dreadful and traumatic’.
Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris said: ‘What we’re all reading in the newspapers and hearing on television and on radio programmes is just beyond a horrifically tragic and devastating scenario.’
‘Three young beautiful lives to be extinguished overnight… We think particularly of that community, but I think it’s something that has shocked the entire country.
‘Our hearts and thoughts and our prayers go to the family, to their poor mum and the 14-year-old boy, to all their neighbours, all their friends, to the schoolchildren going back to school today, where there’ll be two empty desks where beautiful twins only returned to school in recent days.
Andy Cash (pictured), 24, has been charged with killing his sister, 18, and eight-year-old twin siblings in Dublin, as neighbours honoured the tragic victims on Monday
Lisa Cash, 18, and her two younger siblings, eight-year-old twins Christy and Chelsea Cawley
‘I think the whole nation holds all of them in our thoughts.’
Neighbours said they will never forget what they saw and heard in the early hours of Sunday.
One neighbour, who did not want to give his name, said he was watching TV when he was alerted to scenes outside.
‘I went outside and could see gardaí with their weapons out. We couldn’t make sense of what was happening. It was very traumatic to see it all happen.
‘They were a lovely, beautiful family. Our granddaughter sometimes played with the kids out on the street.
‘None of us slept that night. People will not get over this. The community is rocked badly, mentally and physically. The guards did really well that night. They should be given medals. And the paramedics fought and fought so hard to save them. Lisa was a beautiful young girl and she tried her best to save those kids.’
Outside the house are pictures of the three, showing Christy and Chelsea making their first Holy Communion, among the long row of floral tributes.
Another neighbour earlier told the Irish Daily Mail her daughter had only been playing with Christy and Chelsea two days previously.
‘It was the first day that I let her out to play around the corner – just down the road from their house.’
Mourners gathered in droves to leave candles, messages and flowers along the wall outside the home where the trio were murdered
Twins Chelsea and Christy Cawley, aged eight, and their older sister Lisa Cash, 18, were killed at their home in Rossfield Avenue, Tallaght. Pictured: Locals release balloons at a vigil for the three siblings, who died on Sunday morning
Schoolmates are pictured attending vigil of Lisa Cash, 18, and her eight-year-old twin siblings Christy and Chelsea Cawley
Her young daughter continued the story: ‘We played hide and seek down there. We had a good time. I can’t believe it – that they are not here now.’
Another neighbour, who also asked not to be named, told the Mail: ‘Their brother who was in the house went to get help. He is their hero. There are no words to describe what we saw and what happened.
‘The whole community will need counselling now.’
Another neighbour, who also asked not to be named, told the Irish Daily Mail said: ‘There are no words to describe what we saw and what happened. The whole community will need counselling now.’
The principal of St Aidan’s school, Kevin Shortall, paid tribute to Lisa, saying she was ‘a quiet, beautiful young girl, very diligent, hard-working, got on with her work, was a great support to her friends in times of trouble.
‘She is remembered as one of the most honest, genuine young people, full of integrity and no fuss, no drama around her.
‘I believe she was babysitting at the time, and that would have been something that she was just so good at.
A pair of mourners share a tragic embrace at the vigil of Lisa Cash and her eight-year-old twin siblings Chelsea and Christy Crawley
‘She was the kind of person you could trust. That’s the person Lisa was.
‘We are all just meeting each other and shaking our heads and giving each other hugs and things like that. It’s a very difficult morning.’
Mr Shortall said he had liaised with the principal of the primary school that Christy and Chelsea had attended on how to respond to the ‘unprecedented’ tragedy.
On Sunday, the Brookfield Community Centre opened to allow people to gather and help them deal with the tragic news.
‘It doesn’t feel like real life,’ said Fianna Fáil councillor Teresa Costello.
‘We’ve lost three young, vibrant, beautiful lives out of our community, in the most unimaginable terms, and it’s going to be a really difficult road ahead.
‘People are numb. I think it’s not sinking in, but it’s there and it’s so raw for people and it’s something you never imagine is going to be on your doorstep.
‘The scale of what’s emerging in terms of the detail, you never imagine that’s something to happen, particularly to children, and the wider community here are well aware of what happened because they saw it.
‘They saw it from their own houses, from their gardens, from the road.
‘It’s important to remember the names Lisa, Chelsea and Christy. They’re the three most important people right now.