The family of a woman found dead at her home this week is mourning a double Christmas tragedy. Paula Lawlor, 32, was found unresponsive at her two-storey home in Gorey, Co. Wexford in the early hours of Thursday morning.
A man in his 30s was arrested and questioned about her death, but he was subsequently released without charge.
Yesterday, a friend of the victim said her death is a devastating blow to Paula’s wider family, who are already mourning
the loss of her mother Sheila, who also died the week before Christmas nine years ago.
They told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I was there nine years ago when Paula’s mother died, days before Christmas. This is just so sad.’
Originally from Tallaght in Dublin, Paula moved to Gorey several years ago with her parents. She had been living at the Baile Eoghain housing estate until her death last Thursday. Neighbours and friends held a vigil outside Paula’s home on Friday evening to honour her. They described a smiling and happy young woman who would regularly drop in to say hello.
Yesterday, one of her closest friends on the estate – who heard a scream coming from Paula’s house in the early hours of Thursday morning – said that she is haunted by whether or not she could have done more to help the mother-of-one.
Diana Walsh, 62, was sitting in her front room when she heard the scream at around 3 am. She told the MoS: ‘My son has autism and he doesn’t sleep at night, and when he doesn’t sleep I don’t sleep. I was sat here when I heard a heart-wrenching, gurgling scream and went to the window, opened it and looked out.
‘I knew the scream came from up the street and then I went to the gate, but I couldn’t see or hear anything. It was a scream you
don’t normally hear. I can’t get that scream out of my head. I wonder if could I have done something to help.’
Ms Walsh recalled how she last saw Paula two days before her neighbour was found dead. After the visit, she said Paula
turned and hugged her before she walked out the front door.
Fighting back the tears, she said of her friend: ‘A lot of people liked Paula. She was an angel. It’s a tragic, tragic situation and I can’t get over she is not here.
‘I can’t get out of my head the cuddles she gave me and her saying she loved me when she came into me two days before she died.
‘She asked me if I could give her some clothes and some handbags for Christmas because hers had been destroyed… I gave her some clothes and a few bags, and she was so thankful.
‘It made no difference to me whatsoever to give her these things. Paula and I were great friends and neighbours.
‘I will never forget our friendship and I will look out for her daughter. Like everyone else, Paula had her problems, but she was strong, and she dealt with her own stuff. She didn’t go round to people – maybe if she had, maybe if I had gone round to her house…’
Gardaí this weekend renewed their appeal for anyone who was in the Baile Eoghain area of Gorey in the early hours of Thursday
morning to come forward and assist with their investigation.
They also urged anyone with dashcam footage of the area at the time to help them. Paula was an only child and both
of her parents died several years ago.
She is survived by her 13-year-old daughter, Layla Rose. In tributes posted on Rip.ie yesterday, Paula was remembered as
a ‘beautiful’ and ‘caring’ young woman. Her funeral will take place next Saturday at St Mark’s Church in Springfield, Tallaght.
