Funeral of teenager who was killed in Lanzarote

Mourners at the City Quay Church in Dublin yesterday were asked to learn to forgive following the killing of Derek Cumiskey in Lanzarote earlier this month.

Presiding at the funeral Mass of the 18-year-old, Fr Paul St John appealed for the inner-city community to change its ways and "walk in the light" instead of in the darkness "where life is no longer sacred and people feel they have the right to take it".

"We've got to learn to love and respect each other," he said. "We must also learn to forgive each other. Only when we learn to forgive as a people can we experience the light in our own lives."

He said people must pray and work together to make a better community. He described Derek, the youngest of five children, as a happy, kind young man who had just celebrated his 18th birthday and completed his Junior Cert.

He had been named student of the year at special needs school St Augustine's in Blackrock, where he was a pupil, the priest said.

From Townsend Street in Dublin, Derek was on holiday in the Canary Islands with one of his sisters and some friends.

He is believed to have been returning to his hotel on August 1st in the holiday resort of Puerto del Carmen after a night out when he was attacked.

Mourners in the packed church were asked to pray for Derek's parents Ann and John, his sisters Karen, Martina and Joanne and his brother John as well as for his extended family and friends at St Augustine's and all those who died through violence.

At the end of the Mass a poem was read out from the altar on behalf of the family, which described Derek as a "fantastic brother", "caring, gentle and mild", an "innocent soul" who was a great Manchester United fan and "never broke a rule".

Books of condolence at the rear of the church were filled with the signatures of neighbours and friends, and there were many floral tributes to the young man, including one with the word "uncle".

Derek's coffin was carried from the church to the sound of the rap ballad I'll be Missing You, and mourners followed it to Shanganagh Cemetery in south Dublin for burial.