The first anniversary of the death by stabbing of Urantsetseg Tserendorj (48) will be marked by a walk in Dublin city centre on Thursday evening. It will follow the route home from work she was taking when she was attacked on January 20th last year.
A mother of two, the Mongolian national was assaulted outside the CHQ building on the city’s Custom House Quay and died of her injuries in hospital two weeks later. A 15-year-old boy charged with her murder is to face trial at the Central Criminal Court .
President Michael D Higgins was among the large attendance at a Mass in St Kevin's church on Dublin's Harrington Street on Sunday, January 23rd, marking the anniversary of her stabbing.
The Mass was attended by Ms Tserendorj's husband Ulambayar Surenkho and many members of the Mongolian community in Ireland. Also in attendance were Dún Laoghaire Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Green councillor and former lord mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu.
One of the organisers of the Mass, Gonchigkhand Byambaa, a friend of Ms Tserendorj, has asked people to “please walk with us to remember and honour our loving sister” on Thursday.
“Sister, your body may have left us but your inspiration and soul is with us. Your kindness and beautiful smile will help us to build a safer city for us all. Thank you,” she tweeted.
The Walk She Never Finished: Remembering Urantsetseg takes place from 9pm on Thursday from Custom House Quay, opposite the CHQ building.
Cllr Chu said she and her colleagues “will certainly be supporting [the event] and I hope others will too”.
She recalled how “this time last year we were in the depths of the longest lockdown ever seen in this country and we were unable to gather to support Urantsetseg’s husband and their children. But we cannot forget what happened to Urantsetseg, nor should we forget the other 244 women as recorded by Women’s Aid [since 1996] that have died violently or are presumed missing.”
She added: “Urantsetseg and her family worked hard for over 20 years to be part of our society, they chose Ireland as their home. I hope Ireland can show this family, and many other families that are grieving over such circumstances, solidarity.”
Over recent weeks many have said “we need to address women’s safety when what we need is to address systemic behaviour of violence against women. We need education and justice reform to ensure that change happens and continues to happen,” Cllr Chu noted.
