‘Every child wants their mammy but she was cruelly taken from us’
By Aideen O'Flaherty
GARDAI have launched a fresh appeal for information on the murder of Clondalkin woman Antoinette Smith, whose body was found in the Wicklow Mountains in 1988, after she disappeared following a David Bowie concert in Slane Castle in 1987.
Antoinette, who was 27 at the time of her disappearance, attended the David Bowie concert on Saturday, July 11, 1987. The last definitive sighting of the mother-of-two was on O’Connell Street in the city centre that night.
Antoinette’s body was discovered in an isolated drain at Glendoo Mountain on Old Military Road in Glencree, Wicklow, the following April. The young woman had been strangled.
Rachel and Lisa, Antoinette’s daughters who were aged four and seven respectively at the time of their mother’s disappearance, are appealing to anyone who has any information about their mother’s murder to come forward and help them to allow their mother to “rest peacefully”.
Rachel, who is now 36, told The Echo: “It’s been tough, it’s been very hard going, but we’re our mam’s voice to get justice.
“It’s very hard that no one has been held to account for her murder after 32 years.
“We just have to keep it out there, to jog someone’s memory or for someone with a guilty conscience [to come forward].”
Describing what it was like to grow up without her mother, Rachel said: “It hurts, growing up with no mother. Every child wants their mammy, but she was cruelly taken away from us.
“Christmas time is hard, and so are big occasions like birthdays – that’s when she’s really missed.”
Gardai are appealing to anyone with information or who may have come into possession of information in the intervening years to come forward to assist with their investigation into Antoinette’s murder.
“Someone out there knows what happened to my mam,” said Rachel. “Where she was found
. . . she was after going to see her idol in Slane Castle, there’s no way in her right mind she would be voluntarily going up to the Wicklow Mountains at night time.
“We’re appealing to the public to help – if they have any information, we would ask them to please pass it on to the guards.
“It would mean a great deal to us for her murder to be solved, so we can finally put her to rest and she can rest peacefully.”
Anyone with information on Antoinette’s murder can contact Bray Garda Station on 01 666 5300, they can anonymously contact the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or go to any garda station.
