On Thursday afternoon, Sandra McKane and her daughter Sophie walk down to the shrine and, like so many others, place a bunch of flowers there.
For two and a half weeks, an investigation into the disappearance of Daniel Aruebose, a three-year-old child last seen four years ago, has been ongoing. Gardaí had closed off a site in Donabate, north Co Dublin where they eventually discovered what they believe were the boy’s partial remains.
“The fact that [somebody] could walk down here with him and to leave him there,” says McKane. “I can’t get my head around that as a mother. I just can’t. I can’t understand it.”
The pair have come to the memorial because, they say, what else can they do? “We just say a little prayer for him. It’s just to show some sympathy and some love towards him.”
RM Block
Shock has been the overwhelming feeling around Donabate, a close-knit coastal village with a high population of young families. Not far from the closed-off Garda site, there are two primary schools and a number of sports clubs.
[ Person of interest in Daniel Aruebose death has no plans to return to IrelandOpens in new window ]
Daniel’s disappearance was only noticed last month, when the Department of Social Protection looked into a social welfare payment related to him and were unable to determine his location.
“For a child to go missing like that and never be found until now because of an application for children’s allowance – it’s terrible,” McKane says. “It’s actually quite scary, because you wonder about other children.”
Local man Cian Doolin noted the lack of information around Daniel’s life and disappearance.
“I have a seven-year-old myself and I think people are just devastated at what has happened,” he says.
“This little boy has been allowed to be carried down through the community, 200 metres down to a field, and buried. Where are the answers?”
Vivienne Pan works as a florist in a small shopping centre in Donabate, where many locals have been picking up flowers to leave for Daniel. “It’s all young families around here,” she says. “I had a lady just in about 10 minutes ago. She bought a little arrangement for the boy. She had a little girl with her, and she was pregnant. She said: ‘I don’t know how to explain it to her’. The little girl was five or six years old. It’s very hard.”
[ The Donabate site was suddenly still and silent as a child’s remains were foundOpens in new window ]
Another person paying her respects is Fiona Holohan, who says because her two boys are older, they have more of an understanding of what is going on.
“It must be horrific for parents to try and explain it to their young kids. I don’t know how they do it. We’re a small community here in Donabate, but we’re one that gathers together in crisis and in upsetting situations like this.”
Local Labour councillor Corina Johnston says the community has been rocked since the investigation began at the end of August. There is a “really deep sense of sadness” in the area, she says, and she hopes the discovery of remains will lead to some relief and a proper burial.
“It’s a very young population here,” she says. “Forty-one per cent [of people] are under 30 years of age, and we have a lot of young families. For me, my concern at the minute is about the children in school, the teachers, the support staff – that there’s support for them.
“From my own perspective, I’m a mother of two children. It’s devastating and I’m heartbroken. When I saw the photograph yesterday, it made it real. This gorgeous little boy is no longer here. The sense in the community is, how did this happen? We’re trying to come to terms with it.”
