The Rossfield tragedy is one that rocked not just the Tallaght community, it sent shock waves across the country. There was no one who did not feel for the mother and siblings of the three young people whose lives were so savagely cut short on Sunday, September 4, in their family home in Jobstown.
Friday last saw the funeral and burial of the three siblings, Lisa Cash (18) and twins Chelsea and Christy Cawley (8).
Instead of Lisa starting a new educational course, or making another attempt at her driving test, she and her younger brother and sister each made their last journey past the family home in white horse-drawn hearses to the cemetery at Bohernabreena.
St Aidan’s Church in Brookfield could not hold even half the mourners who attended. Before the emotional service, heart shaped balloons were released into the air, symbolic of the three spirits moving on to another world.
A distraught mother, Margaret Cash, along with her daughter Margaret and son Mikey, were supported by extended family, neighbours and members of the Traveller Community.
Many wore t-shirts bearing a photograph of the three victims, with ‘Our Little Angels’ written underneath.
The heavy sorrow was painful to watch, even from the distance of a television screen – a family’s gaping wound of grief laid bare.
A lovely picture was painted of the older Lisa, the ‘mammy’ to her younger siblings, and of how the three were inseparable, three amigos always having a laugh.
Fr Paul O’Driscoll, chaplain of the Dublin Travelling community praised young 14-year-old Mikey for his bravery and managing to escape on the night of the attack to raise the alarm
Remembered for her love of Elvis Presley, some albums and memorabilia re the King of Rock were brought up for Lisa while a soft teddy and a
personalised cushion represented Chelsea and for Christy, a football and gloves.
Three young lives with so much expectancy – the horse drawn hearses stopped briefly outside the family home at Rossfield Avenue on the way to Bohernabreena Cemetery.
The Tallaght community rallied together to support traumatised neighbours and former school friends of the three siblings but for a mother and her family, the burial was the start of a painful journey of grief, a heartbreaking journey of loss, acceptance and a changed family dynamic.
May they rest in peace, Lisa, Chelsea and Christy, amen. The Dublin Gazette extends its deepest condolences to the Cash and Cawley families.
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