MALLOW came to a standstill last night as thousands queued to pay their respects to murdered student Karen Buckley.
Massive queues began to form outside of O’Connell’s funeral home in the early afternoon, an hour before prayers began at 4pm.
People travelled from Glasgow, Karen’s adopted home, as well as her former University of Limerick classmates, to be at her removal ahead of today’s burial.
A guard of honour made up of Karen’s former classmates from St Mary’s Secondary school in the Cork town of Mallow, as well as nurses from her class in the University of Limerick, lined the path for her devastated father and brothers to carry her coffin from O’Connell’s funeral home to the church just after 8pm, ahead of today’s Requiem Mass.
Karen’s heartbroken mother Marian was close behind, as she watched her husband John and sons Kieran, Damien and Brendan carry her youngest child and only daughter’s coffin to the Church of St Michael the Archangel, Analeentha.
Police Scotland officers and GCU staff to attend funeral of murdered #Glasgow student #KarenBuckley today in #Cork pic.twitter.com/OLOReMZ7tp
— Connor Gillies (@ConnorGillies) April 28, 2015
The 24-year-old's coffin arrived to lie in repose after spending Sunday night in the Buckley family home in Mourneabbey for the final time, after a special rosary with Father Joe O’Keeffe, who accompanied Marian and John Buckley to Scotland, to bring their daughter home at the weekend.
Karen’s remains were brought home on a special Aer Lingus flight from Glasgow, where she had been studying, on Sunday – two weeks after her death.
The qualified nurse had been on a night out in Sanctuary nightclub in the city’s west end on April 12 when she went missing, with police discovering her body on a farm outside of Glasgow four days later.
She had been studying for a postgraduate qualification in occupational therapy since February in Glasgow Caledonian University.
A 21-year-old man has been charged with her murder.
Karen’s Funeral Mass will take place in the church in Analeentha today from 2pm, with burial afterwards in St John’s Cemetery, Burnfort.
Huge crowds of mourners are expected again – with the town enforcing a one-way system and a park and ride service being put in place from Mallow GAA club to deal with the numbers of people.
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