Friends and relatives from Ireland and the Netherlands attended the funeral yesterday of Ms Roma Lonergan (27), who was murdered 13 days ago.
The body of Ms Lonergan from Cahir, Co Tipperary, was found with multiple stab wounds dumped in a shallow grave a couple of miles from the village of Geervliet where she lived.
She had recently begun a new relationship with an Irishman. In his mid-20s and identified only as Jesse who comes from Co Wexford, he was among the hundreds who walked behind the funeral cortege to a graveyard close to Geervliet.
Her former Dutch boyfriend, Mr Jos van der Ven (30) is awaiting trial on charges of murder and manslaughter after being formally charged last Friday.
Her mother, Ms Mary Lonergan-Poldervaart, raised the alarm when Roma, who worked in a supermarket in the nearby village of Zwaartewaal, failed to contact home.
Special permission was given for the celebration of the Eucharist in a the Reformed Protestant parish church.
A Catholic priest, Father Marinus van Zaal, told the packed church. "Roma departed this life in dreadful circumstances; for her family it is a terrible time."
