Monaghan town left reeling after ‘heartbreaking’ debs crash tragedy

On a roadside, about 3km outside of Clones, Co Monaghan, bouquets of flowers mark the place where disaster struck.

The white BMW carrying Kiea McCann (17) and Dlava Mohamed (16) collided with a tree in the townland of Legnakelly at about 6.45pm on Monday evening, and everything changed.

In the aftermath, things happened quickly. People living in the house overlooking the crash scene arrived, carrying a defibrillator. Fr Peter Corrigan was called for prayers. Franky McCann, Ms McCann’s father, arrived. He beganCPR on both his daughter and Ms Mohamed, their hands touching as efforts to revive proved futile.

Kiea McCann died wearing a red sequin debs dress. She had finished the Leaving Cert Applied programme at Largy College in Clones some months ago, and had planned to start a course in childcare at Cavan Institute in September. She had a love for children and was a family girl; it was considered the perfect course for her.

Monaghan fatal crash site ‘not an area of concern’, safety changes previously made

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Monaghan town left reeling after ‘heartbreaking’ debs crash tragedy

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Monaghan crash: Dlava Mohamed (16) funeral hears country is ‘shook’ by tragedy

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Dlava Mohamed’s gown was blue. From Syria, she had arrived in Ireland in 2018, and quickly formed a close friendship with Ms McCann on settling with her family in Clones. She had just finished her Junior Cert, also at Largy College. Life was all ahead of her.

Three others were injured in the crash. Auin Mohamed (18), Ms Mohamed’s sister, remains in a critical but stable condition. At the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, driver Anthony McGinn’s (60) injuries are also critical. Oisín Clerkin (18) survived the crash, avoiding serious injury.

The car was travelling to the Largy College debs, set for that Monday evening, July 31st, at the Westenra Arms Hotel in Monaghan town, when the crash occurred.

The ball never happened.

“It was supposed to be our big night,” one Largy College student later said. “It’s heartbreaking for everybody.”

***

The Diamond, in the centre of Clones, is a natural gathering spot, the roads that lead into the town sloping upwards towards it.

Before Monday’s tragedy, teenagers – dressed in pressed suits and pristine dresses – mingled on the Diamond ahead of the ball, anticipating the night’s revelry. There would be stories to tell.

But in the wake of the crash, the Diamond became a stage for displays of collective grief.

Late on Tuesday evening, hundreds took to the centre of Clones, waiting as Ms McCann’s body was returned to her family’s home on Fitzpatrick Square, a short distance from the Diamond. The McCanns, who some years before had spent time living in Kilmainhamwood, Co Meath, received sympathisers throughout the day.

As the hearse reached Monaghan Street, just after 11pm, the crowd stepped forward, forming a guard of honour on to both sides of the road. This was a tight community trying to make sense of how a debs ball, an enjoyable rite of passage, had turned to tragedy in the blink of an eye. The hearse idled briefly as it passed the Mohamed home, a three-storey building located on the Diamond.

The silence was interrupted only by sobbing.

On Wednesday morning, as the Mohamed family waited for the return of Dlava, people were reaching for words that eluded them.

“I don’t know what to do, how to feel. Because this is my first time losing someone this close in my life,” Rashid Mohamed, Ms Mohamed’s 17-year-old brother said.

The Mohamed family had come to Clones under a government programme facilitating the resettlement of refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war. Rashid and his family had lost people in that war – but Dlava’s death was different.

“I lost a lot of people in the war,” he said. “But I didn’t feel as bad as I do about my sister.”

[ Varadkar offers condolences ‘on behalf of the nation’ to families of Monaghan crash victims ]

John McNally (68), a resident of Clones for 35 years, was sitting at a bench on the Diamond on Wednesday morning.

“They were friends,” he said of Ms McCann and Ms Mohamed. “You’d see them knocking about together, the McCanns and the two Syrian girls. They played there a lot, every evening.”

Some time later, Mr McNally walked to the entrance of the Mohamed home. There, he shared a silent embrace with Ms Mohamed’s father, Hohamed, and walked away dabbing his eyes.

Wednesday wore on, a low drum of activity continued around the Mohamed home. In the late afternoon, Rashid, carrying flowers, walked to the McCann home, where Kiea was being waked.

The McCann family would return the gesture of support on Wednesday evening, standing by Ms Mohamed’s sobbing family members as her coffin pulled on to the Diamond just after 7pm. Just like the night before, hundreds were there to look on, keeping vigil on the roadside.

***

In this unlikely union of two families grieving for their daughters – one, Syrian refugees building a new life, the other, an Irish family from out of town who had found a new community in Clones – a picture of a changing Ireland emerged.

Over the course of the week, multiple languages were heard on the Diamond – English, Portuguese, Arabic. A Brazilian shop sells imported goods just down Fermanagh Street. Above a barbershop, a Ukrainian flag flutters in the breeze beside a Monaghan one.

Pat Treanor, a Sinn Féin councillor in Clones, said the town has experienced a demographic change in recent times.

Migrants from eastern Europe, in particular Lithuania, moved to the area two decades ago to work for ABP Meats, a factory located close to the town, Cllr Treanor said.

Later on, Syrian families arrived. With the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian refugees moved to Clones.

“Some are involved in Tidy Towns committees, local voluntary committees here in the town. Children attended the school, both primary and secondary – integrated, made great friends with all the students in the school,” Cllr Treanor said.

[ ‘A night of celebration became a night of suffering and heartbreak’ - Monaghan community rallies round families ]

On Wednesday afternoon, Alfredus Valueis left a lit candle by the entrance to Largy College, placing it beside a collection of flowers.

His 15-year-old granddaughter, who attends Largy College, knew the girls who died, said Mr Valueis, a Lithuanian man.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rehab Ramadan was on Fermanagh Street, walking towards the Diamond with her two children.

“All people here are friends, like a big family, all together,” Ms Ramadan said. She is from Egypt, and has lived in Clones for 15 years.

Rashid Mohamed, on Wednesday morning, spoke of the support the Clones community had provided his family. “The community is very good. It’s like one of the best communities ever. They are [supportive]. Wherever you walk, they talk to you ... It’s a pretty good community, that’s the good thing.”

***

On Thursday, the final journey commenced.

Dozens of motorbikes were lined up in a row by the gate to the Sacred Heart Chapel in Clones. In unison, bikers revved their throttles, a grey plume rising. To the harsh chorus of the engines, the hearse carrying Ms McCann’s coffin passed through the smoke and into the chapel ground.

At the beginning of the funeral mass, symbolic gifts were offered for Ms McCann: her iPhone, a hair straightener, a photo of her wearing that red sequin dress taken on Monday.

The congregation heard of Ms McCann’s sense of humour, her mischievous nature, her innocence.

“She kicked football with her close circle of friends, played pool, enjoyed music and the weekend discos. Kiea was kind, wholehearted, genuine,” Fr John Chester said.

“She respected others irrespective of race or creed.”

At the other side of the country, a coach full of classmates from Largy College pulled into the car park of Clonskeagh Mosque, in south Dublin, a little before 1:30pm.

Inside the mosque, standing over the white coffin, Imam Sheikh Hussein Halawa spoke about the “tragedy” that had shaken the Mohamed family, the Muslim community in Ireland, and the entire country.

Sharon Magennis, principal of Largy College, had paid tribute to Ms Mohamed earlier in the week.

“She was a gorgeous soul. Loyal and bubbly, and always very happy in and around the school. She radiated goodness. She was just full of energy,” said the principal.

At the end of the short service, Mr Halawa embraced Ms Mohamed’s father and other members of her family.

After the funeral, classmates of Ms Mohamed lined the steps from the mosque in a guard of honour, as her body was taken to be buried at Newcastle Muslim Cemetery.

***

Clones is quiet on Thursday evening. A short distance out the road, at Legnakelly, the farmer who owns the field at the crash site sat in a green loader.

The man, who asked not to be named, mentioned the death of Ashley McCluskey almost two decades ago. Mr McCluskey was 20 years old when the car he was driving collided with a tree on the N54 at Legnakelly – the exact spot where Ms McCann and Ms Mohamed lost their lives.

“It needs crash barriers on both sides [of the road]. If there had have been crash barriers, them people, I don’t think, would have died,” he said.

He has plans to cut down the tree himself.

On Thursday evening, at the crash site, a ticket for the Largy College debs has been left by the bouquets of flowers. The date, July 31st, now linked to unspeakable tragedy in the community, is printed on the slip of paper.