The theft of the flower pot from the memorial to Lena Doyle has caused much upset for her family
THE MOTHER of a young woman who was tragically killed in an accident on the N25 a couple of miles outside New Ross has described the theft of a large flower pot from her daughter’s memorial stone as “heartless”.
Lena Doyle (22), from the Ballagh, Adamstown, died when the car in which she was a front-seat passenger crashed at the top of Begerin Hill, around two miles from New Ross, on April 21, 2010.
Ms. Doyle’s parents erected a memorial at the site of the crash as they tried to come to terms with the enormous loss they suffered.
The memorial, which is easily spotted by motorists travelling along the route to-and-from New Ross, has been tended to for the last six years by Ms. Doyle’s family especially her mother, Rita Martin.
However, sometime between 6 p.m. on Sunday, July 17, and 12 noon the following day a large flower pot was stolen from the memorial causing great upset for Ms. Doyle’s family and relatives.
Speaking to the Echo about the incident her mother said she was very upset when she found out.
“My sister was driving out by it and she spotted it gone but thought nothing of it and thought maybe one of us had taken it away to do something with it or put more flowers into it,” she said.
“I went out Tuesday to water it and then I saw it was gone which I thought was odd,” she added.
Even though she is predominantly the one who tends to the memorial she initially thought that a member of the family may have taken it to put flowers into it, however, when she discovered that wasn’t the case and that it had been stolen she she got very upset.
“It was upsetting because it [the memorial] hasn’t been touched in six years so why now all of a sudden,” she said.
“It was there six years in April,” she added.
She said while the theft of the pot is one thing the show of disrespect to her daughter and to her family his hard to take.
“It’s the disrespect that is the issue,” she said.
“I know I’m not going to get it back.”
When she went out to it she said she were wheel marks visible in the grass margin where someone had pulled in after coming from the Wexford direction.
Rita is appealing for anyone who may have information about the theft to make contact or if someone does know of its whereabouts that the pot might be returned to the memorial.
If anyone does have information about the theft they can contact Rita through the Echo newspaper [in strict confidence] at [email protected]
