Daena Walsh a 'beautiful sister that I will always look up to and love'

A beautiful young woman smiled warmly from a framed photograph at the top of the crematorium, her coffin, laden with flowers, standing solemnly and incongruously behind it. The funeral of Daena Walsh , the mother of two, aged 27, who was killed in her home in Midleton in East Cork last Friday, was held in her native Co Wicklow today. Addressing mourners, her brother Paul said his sister was “one in a million” and he “wouldn’t change Daena for the world".

“I just want to say some wonderful words about my sister Daena,” Paul said. I couldn’t have asked for a better sister; she was one in a million. Daena was as mad as a brush and had a heart of gold.

“Daena was such a beautiful sister that I will always look up to and love.” Paul said he would cherish memories of his sister in his heart forever. He promised to “be there” for Daena’s two children and to “remind them what a beautiful, loving, caring mam” they had.

Mourners solemnly entered McCrea's Cremation Chapel in Wicklow town to the song ‘Young, Wild and Free’ by Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa, following her funeral Mass at the Church of St Laurence O'Toole in Roundwood. Mourners sat, heads bowed and shoulders slumped, in sorrow when another favourite song of Daena's, the upbeat and vivacious 'Dance Monkey' by Tones and I, was played. People reached out and wrapped their arms around their neighbour’s heaving shoulders, holding each other as they sobbed when Hozier’s 'Too Sweet' played as the c.