Southport stabbing victim Alice da Silva Aguair, 9 was a little girl with a “glorious rainbow smile” who has gone “dancing into heaven”, her parents say. Three months ago Alice da Silva Aguair, aged nine, had been “giddy” about her first communion at St Patrick’s Church in Southport. But yesterday her family had to endure the heartbreak of returning to this same church for her funeral .
Despite their "unimaginable" pain, they made sure to celebrate their joyful little ballet dancer and “peacemaker of the playground.” Alice was one of three little girls killed in the Southport mass stabbing attacks at a children’s Taylor Swift dance party on June 29th. To mark the funeral a new picture was released of Alice taken on the day of the tragic party, excited and beaming next to a Taylor Swift cut out and clutching a blue water bottle.
She died in hospital a day after this picture was taken in an attack that shocked the nation. Ten others were also seriously injured. Father John Heneghan, the parish priest of St Patrick Catholic Church in Southport, who knows the family well, led the funeral on Sunday.
He told beforehand how Alice had a “glorious, rainbow smile” and her parents believe she’s “gone dancing into heaven”. At her funeral he told how he would never forget that “wonderful little child” and that smile at her first communion. At the service a letter written to Alice by her parents was read out, describing her as a “good girl with strong va.