Tears for Karen: Mourners form guard of honour for murdered nurse
SHE died tragically in the city where she had moved to further her career in nursing.
Murder victim Karen Buckley, 24, died following a night out with friends two weeks ago in Glasgow’s West End, leading to candlelit vigils in the city.
Amid further heartbreak, student Karen Buckley, 24, was laid to rest as her funeral was held in County Cork yesterday.
Mourners were told how the Glasgow Caledonian University occupational therapy student’s inappropriate death had inflicted indescribable hurt and pain on her devastated family.
In her native Mourneabbey, near Mallow, the town where thousands had gathered to pay their respects, the qualified nurse’s brothers placed a poignant childhood photograph of her and of her in a nurse uniform by her coffin.
Parish priest Father Joe O’Keeffe told mourners, led by her parents John, 62, and Marian, 61, and brothers Brendan, 32, Kieran, 28, and Damien, 27, that now was a time of tears.
As well as being a young woman, Miss Buckley, 24, was a friend, cousin, niece, sister-in-law, sister, and a child, he said.
To her parents, in particular, it was most difficult to see their only daughter travel from “the cradle to the coffin”, he told them.
“One represents the beginning of life and the other represents the end,” he said.
“And it is doubly sad when the two are so closely linked.
“We are deeply, deeply saddened when the life of someone so young is cut short, and in Karen’s case, so tragically and horrifically so, by the curtain of death.”
There was no room for the crowds at the small church and a loudspeaker had to be put up so those who gathered outside could hear the service.
An Irish government minister represented Prime Minister Enda Kenny and the Lord Mayor of Cork Mary Shields also turned out to pay their respects.
A number of officers from Police Scotland attended to represent the force.
Father O’Keeffe said Ms Buckley’s death was confusing for those who loved her. “Karen’s death seems so utterly inappropriate,” he added. “It violates our sense of order.
“In our view of life, death and childhood are poles apart, and twenty-four years simply does not seem the right time to die –it does not seem to add up.”
The priest told the congregation at the Church Of Saint Michael The Archangel that many things would now leave a void for her loved ones.
“It may be a picture that hangs on the wall, a familiar footstep, a stray kitten whom Karen named Boots, or whatever, but nothing becomes so indispensable as a child,” he said.
“From the outset he or she tangles his or her tiny fingers in our heart strings and when they are pulled away the hurt is indescribable.”
During the service, Ms Buckley’s three brothers each placed a memento of their sister by her coffin, as a reminder of her personality, achievements and her love for life. Karen’s favourite dress was also placed beside her to show her love of fashion.
“As you can see from the picture she looked beautiful,” Mr Hurley said.
Friend Julie Malone said: “Karen touched the lives of all of us in a very special way and she was an example to us all.”
Ms Buckley was later buried in nearby Burnfort Cemetery, alongside her grandparents.
On Friday, Alexander Pacteau, 21, made a second appearance at Glasgow Sheriff Court charged with Ms Buckley’s murder.
He is alleged to have attacked her with a spanner and strangled her. Pacteau was remanded in custody.