I’m so lucky to have you as part of my life
MURDERED JASTINE’S LAST WORDS TO HER PARENTS:
Tragic 24-yr-old’s letter before abduction horror
TRAGIC Jastine Valdez penned a poignant letter to her parents before she was brutally murdered.
Mark Hennessy, 40, abducted the 24-year-old Filipino student in Co Wicklow in May before strangling her and dumping her body. Yesterday, mum Tess
and dad Danny revealed they found the note three weeks after her funeral.
It read: “I’m so lucky that I have you as a part of my life, because of you I have overcome all the trials in my life.
“Without you my life now would be a mess.”
THE devastated parents of murdered Jastine Valdez broke their silence yesterday as they admitted her killer’s death has not eased the pain.
The 24-year-old was abducted by Mark Hennessy, 40, who strangled and dumped her in a ditch near her home in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, on May 19.
Evil Hennessy then went on a cocaine and booze binge after killing the Filipino student before he was shot dead by a garda in Cherrywood Business Park the next day.
Heartbroken Tess and Danny Valdez told Miriam O’callaghan on RTE Radio 1 that many questions remain unanswered as father-of-two Hennessy was killed without explaining his actions.
Heartbroken Tess said: “We didn’t like that he was killed. It didn’t change anything.
“When we found out that he was killed it didn’t ease the pain at all. It didn’t matter, Jastine was gone.
“We felt bad that he was killed straight away, quickly, because we wanted to find out what was running in his head.
“We wanted to know more about why. We were quite disappointed that he was killed.
QUESTIONS
“There are a lot of questions in our minds, we wanted to know more about why he done such a terrible thing.”
The distraught couple told how they discovered a letter penned by Jastine three weeks after she was buried in her native Philippines.
The accountancy student, who worked part-time as a carer, wrote about her love for her parents and how much she owed them.
It read: “To my mam and dad, I don’t know how to express the words I love you, right from the bottom of my heart, because words aren’t enough to let you know how much I love and care for you.
“It’s hard for me to express but I hope this simple letter of mine is really appreciated and I just want you to know that those words attached here, I really mean it.
“I’m so lucky that I have you as a part of my life, because of you I have overcome all the trials in my life.
“Without you my life now would be a mess. You are always here to guide, protect and give all that I want.”
Mrs Valdez recalled the day Jastine went missing and how they were crippled with pain after hearing she had been murdered.
She said: “I was at work at the time and Danny was on his way home and I asked him to check where Jastine was and he said she was not home yet.
“I tried calling her many times but she was not picking up.
“I got a bit worried as we had agreed that she be home by 5.30pm. She wasn’t home yet so I started to get very worried.
“She always told the time she was going to be home. We went straight away to gardai to tell them that my daughter had not arrived on time.
“They asked for all the details. What time did she leave? What was she wearing? Where did she go?
“When I went to gardai and told them my daughter was missing they promised they were going to find her – 100% they were going to find her.
“When she didn’t come home around 7.30pm I knew there was this gut feeling inside me. I knew something was wrong, something terrible had happened.
“I don’t know exactly what happened because at that time when I knew something terribly wrong had happened I starting collapsing.
“I couldn’t remember much I just knew something horrible had happened to her.
“On Sunday we were told that they were looking for Jastine and they kept reassuring us that they were really trying hard to find her.
“Then on Monday at 3pm we were informed they had found her body. We couldn’t stop crying. We couldn’t eat. We just didn’t know what to do and we
couldn’t believe what had happened.” The couple praised gardai for tracking down Hennessy.
And they said despite the horrendous crime being committed in Ireland they could never blame the country for what happened to their daughter.
Mrs Valdez added: “We are not angry at Ireland for what happened because whatever was going on his mind is only in his mind. Ireland has been good to us.
“Saying, ‘Thank you’ is not enough compared to what the people have done to help us.
“We will always feel that we can never repay people for all their kindness.”
And when asked if it was important to bury Jastine in the Philippines rather than in Ireland where they now live, Tess said there were many reasons why they wanted to do it.
One reason was Jastine’s granny still lives there.
The couple said they have returned to Ireland after spending time at home and want to start rebuilding their life.
Mrs Valdez said: “We feel very sad because we came and we are living in somebody else’s home, it doesn’t feel right.
“It would be good if we found a job soon and find a home soon.
“It’s hard enough that we lost Jastine but we have to look for another job.
“I could work as a cleaner in a hospital or wherever there is a job for me I will do it. We want privacy, to put closure to it. We want to be left in peace.”
Twisted Hennessy was not known to gardai for serious criminal activity.
But records show he was found to be in possession of £100 of cannabis in 1999 and charged with a public order offence the following year.
A Gofundme account has been set up to help the Valdez family.
We wanted to know what was running through his mind
TESS VALDEZ RTE RADIO ONE YESTERDAY