- We need help, we really need help to progress the search for Deirdre further – Bernadette Jacob.
Deirdre Jacob was 18 years old when she went missing in July 1998, shortly after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which conveys some measure of just how long her parents have been emotionally drained by the knowledge vacuum regarding her fate. Yet the normal human concept of time has been first elasticated, then truncated by the rupturing effect of loss. In the words of her mother:
Every anniversary is difficult, every day is difficult - and I suppose 15 years seems a very long time. Well in some ways it’s a very long time in that we haven’t seen Deirdre and she’s missing. But at the same time because it’s with us all the time, it seems like as if it was yesterday in another way.
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| Deirdre Jacob: from Irish Examiner |
A trainee school teacher ‘the teenager disappeared as she walked from Newbridge to the nearby family home in Co Kildare on July 28, 1998.’ It was the middle of the day and Deirdre was last spotted at the gate of her home. After that, nothing. The seeming inexplicability of it makes any comprehension all the more challenging. According to the Garda 2,000 statements have been taken and 2,500 different leads pursued but without any closure.
Today as the anniversary of her having gone missing approaches her parents appeared on television appealing for information about her. Her mother said they need to find out about their child. That need was palpably etched on the faces of Deirdre’s mother and father.
The ponderous burden occasioned by a disappearance is something those of us not affected can fear but never truly fathom. We who were at one time or another in the ranks of the IRA have had both time and cause to reflect on the savage cruelty of disappearing people. Not only are they placed in an unmarked plot but their loved ones are hurled into a bottomless pit of misery. It is one of the gravest crimes that can be inflicted on a family.
The parents of Deirdre do not know if her disappearance is linked to the fate of other women who have gone missing in the same area in the late 1990s. They can only hope not. It is, however, most unlikely that she went missing of her own volition. Even if she did her parents have a right to know the fate of their daughter. At this stage whoever has knowledge should make it available to the parents. Their anguish should be brought to an end. No human being deserves such prolonged mental torture.
Garda Superintendant Joseph Prendergast said:
It is never too late to come forward. You may initially have, for whatever reason, decided not to make that phone call, but now is the time. That call might bring some closure to the pain and suffering experienced by Bernadette and Michael, her sister, extended family and wide circle of friends.It is as simple as that.
Appeals have gone out to anyone with information to get in touch with Garda in Newbridge, the Garda Confidential line @ 1800 666 111 or Crimestoppers on 1800 25 00 25.
The contribution that blogs like this can make to any productive outcome are no doubt infinitesimally small. But doing something small is better than doing nothing big. Decreasing misery is a most worthwhile human objective; increasing it or maintaining it in being is egregious. Peace of mind for tormented parents might just be an anonymous phone call away if somebody has the fortitude to make it.
Such a beautiful young lady, and , to have vanished from her own front gate is a tragedy. I hope someone will take head of Garda Superintendant Joseph Prendergast and phone the numbers given, simply little things that you don't see as important, Like, Oh, she got into so and so's car outside her house. This family must be going through hell, wondering were their daughter is. I hope she is found safe and well, and , soon.
ReplyDeleteItsjustmacker,
ReplyDeletea nice comment. It is very distressing for the family and we can only help in whatever small way we can
I cant help thinking here of the Cleveland USA case and of the sexual predator Ariel Castro who held those women captive for years,the bastard copped a guilty plea today to save his skin,now he at least knows what its like to be locked up without any hope and to be someones sex toy, hopefully Deirdre is alive and well and may someday soon be reunited with those who love her .
ReplyDeleteMy sister in law went missing one hot August night. It was not an entirely unexpected occurrence, as she had chosen a dangerous life, and we all knew, somehow, that it would not be a long one. But the anguish we felt between the time she disappeared, and her bullet-riddled body was found three months later, was overwhelming. Odd as it may sound, we were relieved when she was found, even though she was dead. I cannot imagine how a family living without the fears we had must feel when one of their loved ones goes missing. My heart goes out to Dierdre's family.
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