Dad heard on the radio that daughter had been charged
THE DEVASTATED father of Tina Cahill, the New Ross woman charged with murdering her fiance, has spoken of his family’s despair at being so far away from her during this horrendous time in her life and of how they will always be there for her.
Daniel (Dan) Cahill said the first time he heard that his daughter was charged with the murder was on the radio on Saturday morning.
Tina, 25, from Pondsfield, New Ross, was due to appear in court on Sydney on Sunday charged with the murder of Daithi Walsh (29) last Friday, but was too distressed.
A police spokesman said she was due to be brought before Parramatta Bail Court. However she chose not to appear via video link as her lawyer said she was too distressed to do so.
She was further remanded in custody and is due to appear before Burwood local court tomorrow ( Wednesday).
Tina had been in a relationship with Daithi (Davey) Walsh, a father-of-three from Enniscorthy for over a year, and the couple got engaged on New Year’s Eve.
The daughter of popular charity workers Dan and Rita Cahill, Tina has been living in Australia for four years having initially emigrated to Melbourne.
Dan said the first the family heard about Tina being charged with Mr Murphy’s death was on the radio on Saturday morning.
‘Someone rang Rita on Friday night and told her that Davey was dead but that was all we knew.
‘ The first I heard about Tina (being charged) was on the radio on Saturday morning. It’s hard to think about it because you don’t know what happened. All we want to do is speak to her. Rita is broken up and in bits and we’re just trying to cope.’
Dan and Rita plan to travel to Sydney to be by Tina’s side once they get more information about the court case. ‘She is probably in a holding cell at the moment. There was supposed to be a court hearing Saturday night, (Sunday morning their Tesco in New Ross before she emigrated.’
Dan, Rita, Tina’s sister Mairead and her son visited Tina in Australia at Christmas for three weeks.
‘She was so excited to have us over and had everything planned for us. We did a lot of sightseeing and travelled up the coast. Davey was brilliant to us when we were over there.’
The former St Joseph’s NS and St Mary’s secondary school student got engaged over Christmas and the Cahill family were looking forward to their wedding day.
Dan, who previously ran Rochford’s shop in the Three Bullet Gate area of New Ross with Rita, and who now works as a digger driver and volunteers with New Ross River Search & Rescue, said: ‘We are just about coping. I am working today to keep my mind off it... It’s so hard with the distance involved. We are in a state of shock and helplessness.’
Neither Dan nor Rita have been able to speak to Tina and they do not know if she has been in contact with any of her friends.
Dan said the family have been buoyed by the tremendous support of the people of New Ross.
‘Everyone has been unbelievable. The house was full with people all day on Sunday.’
They have been speaking to a liaison officer about the case and hope to get to speak to Tina over the coing days.
‘I will be there for her and we all will,’ Dan said.
Former New Ross town councillor Victor Furness said the entire town of New Ross is in shock.
Mr Furness said: ‘ The Cahill’s are very respected in New Ross. Dan is very much part of ths search and rescue team and both he and Rita are involved in the search and rescue shop.’
Mr Furness said a lot of negative comments have been made on Facebnook about Tina which are very hurftul to family members.
‘I am numbed and I find this so difficult to take as Tina is one of our own and you hear about all these comments on Facebook. That is why I don’t believe in Facebook. People should be very careful about what they put up on it as it’s damaging to people’s lives.’
“We are just about coping. It’s so hard with the distance involved. We are in a state of shock and helplessness”