An aunt of the French woman, Ms Sophie du Plantier, who was brutally murdered in west Cork a year ago, appealed from an altar yesterday for people with information about her killing to come forward.
Ms Marie Madeleine Opalka, together with the parents of Ms du Plantier, Marguerite and Georges Bouniol, attended a memorial Mass at St Patrick's Church in Goleen yesterday, to mark the first anniversary of her death.
The badly battered body of Ms du Plantier (38) was found near her holiday home outside Goleen. She was a television documentary producer.
About 60 members of the local community gathered in Goleen for yesterday's memorial Mass. Afterwards, Ms Opalka went to the main altar and made her plea for information that might bring a successful prosecution to a conclusion. She said:
"My family want to say to you that Sophie belonged to our family but that she belonged to you too. She had fully loved your country and its beauty and the kindness of the people. I want to thank you for your faithfulness and for your fidelity. You were here for us over a year ago and it has been a long time since, but you are here for us now too. Just before Christmas people are very busy - but you have made an effort to be with us."
Ms Opalka then thanked the priests of Bantry and Schull "for their excellent work" and said the warmth and friendship shown to the family in the area would not be forgotten.
She continued: "We want to ask you something from the depths of our hearts. Someone among you may have information or know something - please, please give it to the police. If you help the police in this way we would be most grateful. We know that you want the same as what we want."
After the plea, the celebrant, Father Gregory Bourke, asked close friends of the family to join him for coffee in the sacristy. But before this, the entire congregation shook hands with Ms du Plantier's relatives and parents.
In his homily, Father Bourke said people had gathered in God's house of prayer to mark the anniversary of Ms du Plantier's death. The community, he added, had come to honour a noble lady of France.
"For us, she was a most welcome resident and visitor to beautiful Goleen. We have come to pray for her and to ask that the risen Christ will bless her with eternal glory. We have come to this beautiful old church to be with the sorrowing parents and to pray for her family - also to share their burden of grief."
Addressing the family directly, Father Bourke said: "You are among friends here this morning. They love you most generously and they love you deeply. There is great love in the hearts of the people on this day. We want to embrace you and comfort you and share your grief. Many of us have experienced death and know of your sorrow. We want to share your sorrow with our sorrow - that's the true spirit of the Irish nature."
Father Bourke went on to say that Ms du Plantier had an artistic background and that it was her eye for beauty in the first place that had drawn her to Goleen. She was blessed in the sense she had shared her warm nature with the people of the area and the people in turn had responded to her presence. "It was easy for us to give her a cead mile failte," he concluded.
The Bouniol family arrived in Ireland last Friday and left last evening for France. During their visit, they retraced exactly the final movements of Ms du Plantier before her death. They visited local pubs and friends at exactly the same time as she had done before she was murdered and they also called to her holiday home.