MELISSA MAHON, the 14-year-old schoolgirl victim of convicted killer Ronnie Dunbar, was an “innocent” child who had been exploited, mourners at her funeral yesterday were told.
Family members and former classmates of the young teenager attended the Mass at St Anne’s Church, Sligo.
Her distraught sister clutched a picture of her younger sister to her chest as other family members wept silently during the service.
Melissa’s mother Mary was unable to attend the funeral because of illness.
Fr Dominic Gillooly told mourners that “Melissa was a child at heart, an innocent who was exploited, yet she is loved by the Lord who said that his kingdom belonged to children.”
Most of the approximately 170 people who turned out to pay their respects were teenagers, including some classmates from the Mercy Convent where she had been a pupil.
Sligo TD Eamon Scanlon was among the mourners.
A pink top which Melissa was fond of was carried to her white coffin with a picture of the teenager, a Bible, a wooden cross and some white carnations.
There were no hymns, although My Heart Will Go On was played as Melissa’s coffin was brought out of the church. Fr Gillooly said yesterday was a point of final closure for her family, adding that they had endured three years of trauma.
The priest said that worry and anxiety had struck the family at a time that Melissa was experiencing new hope as teenager on the cusp of a new life.
“She was hoping to realise her dreams. That anxiety gave way to the possibility that there was a tragedy.
“And so it proved sadly when the gardaí found her remains in Lough Gill.
“You have endured a very long journey of grief and bereavement over the past three years.”
Dunbar (44), also known as Ronald McManus, was sentenced to life imprisonment last July for the manslaughter of the teenager following a 25-day trial.
Fr Gillooly said the Mahon family had been in the constant glare of national publicity since the teenager’s body was found.
“You have been on daily papers over these past several months.
He added: “At this point your grief is private, not to be intruded upon. By contrast, prayer and sympathy are public, coming from concern for you, the bereaved.”
Melissa was buried after a further, short ceremony at Sligo Cemetery.