Amy Doherty, who police believe was murdered in Derry last weekend, had a “magnetic personality” and drew people to her with a “joyful smile”, her funeral Mass has heard.
The 28-year-old, a mother of two, was found seriously injured in a house at Summer Meadows Mews on Saturday and later died in hospital.
A man (30) has been arrested on suspicion of her murder. The PSNI on Wednesday said he was receiving medical treatment and was not fit for police interview.
Fr Joe Gormley told mourners at the Holy Family Church in Ballymagroarty on Thursday that it was “a very sad day for the family of Amy Doherty, a very sad day for our parish and city”.
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He said mourners would be thinking of Amy’s children Rhea and Ronan and trying to “make sense of the events of last Saturday”.
He said March 21st is a day where, for the first time in six months, “the time of light in our days exceeds the time of darkness”, but “the death of Amy brought a darkness, a sadness, anguish deeper than any lack of daylight”.
“The darkness is, in a sense, deeply intensified when we hear the human story of the beauty of who Amy Doherty is,” he said.
“Amy is a person who has a magnetic personality who would draw people to her by her joyful smile.”
He described Doherty as a “dedicated care worker” who lifted the spirits of patients at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry during the pandemic.
“She’d always try and find fun, find humour, particularly in those dark days when people were very afraid,” he said.
He said she helped people set up video calls and encouraged patients to connect with people outside and enabled “those who maybe hadn’t connected with others for a long time, to begin to do so, and to use the opportunity of Covid to do that”.
However, he said, the “heart of her care” was her two children, who “are the centre of our thoughts and prayers today and beyond”.
Ms Doherty is survived by her parents, Patrick and Sharon, and her younger brothers, Shane and Ryan.
According to Women’s Aid, Ms Doherty was the 30th woman in Northern Ireland to have been killed since 2020. – PA
