Graduation class pay tribute to murdered student
A Cork girl found strangled in an apartment in Galway last week was today remembered as a warm and caring person at what would have been her graduation ceremony.
Karen Guinee, from Clifton in Grange, was to graduate with a degree in medicine with 70 classmates from NUI Galway today.
Instead, the 24-year-old was buried in her cap and gown last Thursday.
Her degree will be presented to her parents at a later date, during a special ceremony.
Speaking before today’s graduation ceremony in Galway today, college president Iggy Ó Muircheartaigh said: “We held a service for Karen in the university chapel before she left on her final journey home.
“I said then that I didn’t know what to say, and I spoke at her funeral and didn’t know what to say, and I’m still at a loss.
“I do know that Karen was a warm, reflective, caring person, who touched all with whom she came in contact.”
He said it was clear that Karen thought about others much more than she did about herself. He said her spirit would live on, both in her family and in all who were touched by her.
He continued: “We mourn her loss, and we share the pain of her family, because she was also a part of our family, particularly that of her class of the final-year medical students.”
Article courtesy of The Evening Echo newspaper
