I identified Celine’s body a few hours after she had been beaten over the head repeatedly with a brick. I know the macabre, bone-chilling details of how she died

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THE heartbroken brother of Celine Cawley broke down in tears yesterday as he recalled having to identify his sister’s battered body.

Chris Cawley told of the nightmare scene he faced after the former Bond actress was found bludgeoned to death at her home in December 2008.

He said: “I identified Celine’s body for the investigating gardai a few hours after she had been beaten over the head repeatedly with a brick.

“I know the macabre, bone-chilling details of how she died.”

Chris was speaking at a Women’s Aid event at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital during the launch of their Breaking The Pattern Of Male Violence campaign.

He was comforted by his sister Susanna as he relived the brutal killing 10 years ago. Celine was 46 when her husband Eamonn Lillis beat her over the head with a brick during a row at the family home in Howth, North Co Dublin.

Her brother added: “What happened to Celine and how it impacted our family is consistent with a common pattern of femicide in Ireland which is clearly reported on in the 2018 Woman’s Aid Femicide Watch report.

“Our world had been turned upside down. It was a living nightmare as grim forensic details unfolded before our eyes.

“Murder detectives in our home. A bloodstained brick. A covert affair. All reported on in detail by the media.” Chris described his sister as “a unique individual”.

He said: “She was a mother, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend and she was loved dearly by all of us.

“Tragically, when Celine was killed by her husband in her own home, in what should have been her safest place, our unique loss became a shared statistic.

“In the manner of her death she shares so much with the other victims of femicide in Ireland, an average of 10 every year.

“Our story is of course only a reflection of our own individual lived experience. “Celine was a successful businesswoman and through her endeavour she

DUBLIN YESTERDAY

was in a privileged position to buy a valuable family home.

“Susanna and our dad are lawyers and that enabled us to fight for Celine’s rights and the rights of her daughter in ways that others might not have been able to.

“However, Celine’s success and our family’s ability to fight for what is right did not shield us from the anguish, the pain and the sadness which we share with other victims’ families.

“For our family today is about offering our voice in support of the Women’s Aid campaign to break the pattern of male violence.”

A total of 225 mothers, daughters and sisters have died by femicide since 1996.

Women’s Aid is calling on the Government to introduce measures to curb the number of women suffering from domestic violence. Susanna added: “In

Celine was killed in her home, what should have been her safest place CHRIS CAWLEY