Jastine (24) loved friends and family
JASTINE VALDEZ, known as Jas to her friends, had just been in Ireland a few years.
She joined her parents Danilo and Teresita in Enniskerry, where the couple live and work.
Jastine (24), pictured right, had completed a degree in accountancy in her home city of Aritao, and was continuing her studies in the Institute of Technology, Tallaght.
Her friends both in the Philippines and Ireland will remember a happy, industrious young woman, who was very much loved. Locals in Enniskerry knew of a friendly person with a sunny smile, who went about her business quietly.
Her parents are natives of the province of Nueva Vizcaya. Only child Jastine had been staying with her grandparents before coming to Enniskerry.
Addressing the media at Bray Garda Station on Monday evening, Superintendent Paul Hogan said that it was highly unusual for Jastine not to maintain contact with her mother, either by phone or by Facebook.
Jastine loved the company of her friends and family, and had recently dined in Koi restaurant in Bray. A photograph from that happy occasion was circulated by gardaí investigating her disappearance.
Jastine’s devastated parents live just outside Enniskerry, where they work for a local family.
Their daughter was a student at the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, where she was doing accountancy. In the Philippines, Jastine had attended St Teresita’s Academy, graduating in 2009.
Classmates were broken-hearted this week to learn of the tragedy in Ireland. One wrote on Facebook that it was the first time they had experienced the death of a friend from school. ‘Our friend since elementary school, super kind and you are so beautiful. You’re going to go home to the Philippines, but we won’t be able to talk to you or touch you.’