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Jastine Valdez was killed last year after being abducted. Garda press

Jastine Valdez's parents speak of never-ending grief at emotional inquest into daughter's killing

The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing.

“OUR TEARS WILL never stop when we think of our beautiful Jastine.”

The parents of Jastine Valdez (24), abducted and killed in May 2018, said they long to hug her and talk to her.

“We miss her so much it is hard to bear,” Danilo and Teresita Valdez said in a statement following an inquest into their only child’s death at Dublin Coroner’s Court.

“We will never know why this happened. We will never understand how such evil can exist in the world. Our grief will never pass, the loss of our beautiful Jastine will never fade, we will never have peace.

Jastine was our life and when she was taken away, our world ended. We try to smile, but in our hearts we are still crying.

Jastine’s mother Teresita Valdez last saw her daughter alive on the morning of Saturday 19 May 2018 before she and Jastine’s father went to work.

She and Jastine exchanged messages throughout the day and she last heard from her daughter at 4.20 pm. She asked her to buy bread before making her way home to Enniskerry on the 5.40 pm bus.

“I was speaking to her on Facebook messenger, there were 63 messages between us that day, just general conversation and joking,” Teresita Valdez said.

Jastine, who was studying Accountancy at IT Tallaght and working part-time as a care assistant, had an appointment at 2 pm with an immigration officer at Bray Garda Station to have her residency permit renewed.

She went from the Garda Station to Ben Dunne’s Gym at Cherrywood Business Park. From there she went to the store to buy a loaf of bread.

Jastine took the 185 bus home from Bray at 5.40 pm and arrived in Enniskerry village at 6 pm. She had a 15-20 minute walk home from the village.

Joseph Squire had been dating Jastine since November 2017. In his deposition he described her as happy, active and innocent.

“She was always happy, active; she never got up to any mischief. She never took drugs; she was way too innocent for that.

“She was literally the most innocent person I ever met in my life and I will never forget her,” he said.

Jeep

The woman who saw Jastine being bundled into a dark Nissan Jeep at 6.10 pm that evening was driving on the R760 between the Powerscourt Estate and Enniskerry.

“I saw a car stopped on the road with no lights and no blinkers. The door of the boot was open. I heard shouting. She was sitting at the edge of the boot looking out at me. I saw an Asian face with dark hair. The shouting turned to screaming,” Susan Forsythe said.

“I heard a deep male voice shouting angrily. I began to feel there was something very wrong,” she said in a deposition read out in court.

Ms Forsythe pulled over and dialled 999.

At 6.20 pm another motorist saw Jastine in the back of the jeep as he was leaving Bray travelling towards the N11. Gareth Thompson told the court he was driving behind the jeep and thought it was a child in the back. He was not sure if she was gesturing or waving at him.

“I noticed a little girl waving. She had both hands up. She had a concerned look. She was sitting at an angle, it didn’t look comfortable,” he said.

He phoned Gardai at 7.22 pm.

3737 Valdez inquest_90584063 Parents of Jastine Valdez are supported by a representative from the Philippine Consulate. Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

Gardai in Bray responded to the initial 999 call from Susan Forsythe. They found a shopping bag containing a loaf of bread and a smashed mobile phone at the scene where the abduction took place. Jastine’s parents wept in court as a picture of the recovered loaf of bread was shown to the jury.

The following morning, gardaí called to an address in Bray where the Nissan Jeep was registered. This was Mark Hennessy’s family home and the jeep was registered in his wife, Nicola Hennessy’s name. She did not know where he was.

Later that evening, following a press conference revealing details of the Garda search operation for the Nissan Qashqai, Christina Connolly was leaving work when she spotted a jeep that matched the description. Connolly called gardaí and relayed her location as she followed the jeep until it entered the car park at Cherrywood Industrial Estate

“I decided to follow him. He was looking in his rear-view mirror,” she said

Mark Hennessy was confronted by armed Gardai at this point, but Jastine was not in the jeep.

Gardaí searched the vehicle and found a bloodstained piece of paper. The only discernible written words were ‘Pucks Castle,’ an area in south east Co Dublin.

This became the focal point in the Garda search for Jastine. Her body was found at 3 pm on 21 May in thick gorse and undergrowth at Pucks Castle, Rathmichael, Co Dublin.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The cause of death was asphyxia due to manual strangulation and Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan said death most likely occurred sometime on Saturday 19 May.

The pathologist found evidence of bruising and abrasions to the genital area. A toxicology report found evidence of a small amount of cocaine ingested within a couple of hours of death.

The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane described Jastine’s death as ‘thoroughly shocking’ and commended the parents’ dignity in their loss.

“The image of that beautiful young woman remains with us. It is inconceivable how her parents can bear the loss of their only child. We’ve had a glimpse of the person that Jastine was and it is tragic that she’s been so cruelly taken in this way,” the coroner said.

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    Mute Jacks R. Back
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 12:08 AM

    We had co-living before. We called them tenements.

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    Mute Mary Nugent
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 1:39 AM

    @Jacks R. NAMA sold all of it off c/o ff/ g Noonan at the helm with Capt. Enda Kenny.

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    Mute Wreck Tangle
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 12:46 AM

    Co-living works well in other cities. I lived in about 40 Sq m when I first moved to Zurich. It was great. Small, in the city, very practical, nice neighbours who I shared certain spaces with but also and most importantly, it was affordable.

    Difference in Ireland is that developers are using this route not to create affordable housing for young, single people, they are trying to maximise their yield per Sq m. Terrible stuff.

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    Mute Karl Harvey
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 2:35 AM

    @Wreck Tangle: this is totally different as well, price aside. You lived in 40 square meters. The majority of these will be 16 square meters! Then some will be 18 square meters, and about 4 of them will be 24 square meters. Big difference between those numbers and what you lived in.

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    Mute Kevin Thompson
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 7:40 AM

    @Wreck Tangle: how much did you pay per month?

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    Mute Wreck Tangle
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 8:32 AM

    @Kevin Thompson:

    1,100 Swiss Francs (think it was about eur 1k at time). Net salary is around 3* Ireland and average rent in Zurich City for 80-100 Sq m is probably around chf 2.8k so it’s a completely fair deal.

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    Mute Karl Harvey
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 12:17 AM

    More like “Price Gouging Leeches seek meeting with useless puppet over ‘not enough propaganda to make our expensive shoe boxes desirable’”

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    Mute windbag
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 12:36 AM

    Misinformed… I don’t think so.. I lived in one of these in Holland for awhile and it was a nightmare..

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    Mute Nigel Barlow
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 1:20 AM

    @windbag: in what way?

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    Mute Bleurgh
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 6:36 AM

    @windbag: lived in one in Holland too in my early 20s and I loved it, didn’t know anyone and was a great way to meet people and was cheap! It was perfect for a certain time in my life.

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    Mute Frank Scanlon
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 12:14 AM

    Absolute disgrace if any of these ‘developments’ get the go-ahead. As regards the report commissioned by Bartra, leave it so

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    Mute Rochey77
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 10:38 AM

    @Frank Scanlon: theres already some completed and some under construction

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 3:15 AM

    I wonder what percentage of applications currently under review is for these hostel-type accommodation? Between student apartments, hotels and these co-living developments it seems couples and families are being pushed out of the city; developers are being allowed shape the future of the city.

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    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 9:59 AM

    @EillieEs: Single people are being pushed out too. No hardworking Dub wants to live in a pokey studio flat either.

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    Mute NotaWarder
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 10:13 AM

    @EillieEs: City probably not the best place to raise a family

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    Mute Sam Greene
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 11:26 AM

    @NotaWarder: yes it is. You get to spend more time with your kids, Instead of commuting for hours.

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    Mute Padraic O Sullivan
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 6:26 AM

    1. Teagasc recommends stable units of 18sqm for horses. These units are 16sqm.
    2. Covid has obviously put a dampner on the situation. Say there is a kitchen unit per 25/30 people. Good luck having breakfast/prepping your sandwich while social distancing.
    3. Under what laws are the renters protected. If I’m not mistaken, the PRTB aren’t gonna protect you, it’s a private contract between you and the owner.
    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/co-living-residents-may-fall-outside-rental-protections-1.3990143

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    Mute Rochey77
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 10:39 AM

    @Padraic O Sullivan: i don’t know if you’ve ever seen horses though, they are pretty large

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    Mute Bob Murray
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 7:12 AM

    Irish developer looks for meeting with ff minister because he wants to alter reality….hmmmm….where have I heard this before?

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    Mute Adam Conroy
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 7:56 AM

    Pull the other one it’s got bells on. There’s one reason and one reason only that developers want this…it suits them fine to build overpriced boxes for people to live in, rather than proper apartments or houses.

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    Mute Podge
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 9:23 AM

    @Adam Conroy: they’ll increase the housing stock which will reduce the demand strain which will decrease the price in the long run. How many people could you house in traditional housing developments on that land? The more people we get out of traditional housing that don’t need to be there the more the traditional housing stock is available to families/young people looking to start a family.

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    Mute Sam Greene
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 11:28 AM

    @Podge: do t know many single people living in 2 or 3 bed houses? Do you? This is all about profit for the least amount of space.

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    Mute Podge
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 11:38 AM

    @Sam Greene: yes. And I was one of them for many years. Obviously they rent out a room and share with others. Very hard for a family to compete with 3 working single people for a 3 bed house.

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 12:27 PM

    @Podge: A small box is not housing

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    Mute Podge
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 12:39 PM

    @Gary Kearney: So how big does a room have to be to be considered housing under whatever definition you’ve come up with in your own head?
    I live in a small apartment. I know many people who live in small apartments. I know people who share bedrooms with 2/3 people. It’s not the best form of housing but it’s all housing.

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    Mute Paul Mc
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 12:44 AM

    No brown envelopes were involved that’s a giving.

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    Mute RogersRabbit
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 3:22 AM

    The minister rushes to be lectured by these people.

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    Mute Ann Experiment
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 12:09 AM

    Mehole.

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    Mute George Vladisavljevic
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 8:22 AM

    As I have said in the past, make the out of Dublin TD’s stay in these accommodations while they are up thee instead of renting apartments and hotels and see how it goes. After all, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

    It will also save the state money if they go out and buy a few rooms and share them among the TD’s and other public servants and staff.

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    Mute jgc
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 8:07 AM

    #coliving Looks like very expensive Direct Provision accommodation: so that the rising affulent can experience tennent style living in order to be prepared for the next pandemic

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    Mute Emer Caffrey
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 4:25 AM

    Looks ugly for starters

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    Mute Lydia McLoughlin
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 7:50 AM

    You just smell the BS when he blew smoke up the b’side of the Minister when he put in that paragraph about “… strong and stable government…’ The government are just a front, puppets for the perceived elite and not fit for purpose.

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    Mute Eoin Ryan
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 10:38 AM

    They should be banned. Worst idea I’ve heard. We are going backwards here in Ireland.

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    Mute Podge
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 9:10 AM

    Many people talk about how we need houses not this type of accommodation. What people fail to realise is that getting people who don’t need to be in traditional houses into other types of accommodation frees up traditional housing.
    When I first moved to Dublin at 22 I would have happily moved into one of these as I didn’t know many people in the city. A few years on and I’m living with my girlfriend, we don’t need a house at the moment as it’s just the two of us. An apartment would be the most ideal (the standard is better than a lot of the houses converted into one beds).
    Instead I’ve lived in three different places in Dublin and all three were old houses that would have been perfect for families. The current house was converted into 5 different one bedroom/studio apartments.
    I don’t know how a couple with kids are supposed to compete with investors who can put 6+ working people in a house and charge them €700+ each.
    The more housing stock we have the more prices will come down.

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    Mute Sam Greene
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 11:31 AM

    @Podge: so basically they are student accomodation, under a different guise. We need more families in the city, not more single person acconodation. .

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    Mute Podge
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 11:45 AM

    @Sam Greene: Yes, so how can we get more families into the city? How about we build other types of accommodation so that people living in houses who don’t really care about living in a house can move? Dublin is full of houses where each bedroom is rented out to single people or couples. Like I said above I’ve lived in many and the current house I’m living in would make for a lovely family home except it was converted into a bunch of 1 bedroom/studio apartments.
    There’s not enough houses – build houses is such a one dimensional view.

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    Mute Cynical
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 1:05 PM

    For anyone using foreign examples of good co-living spaces, please realise business people in Ireland like to do everything a lot worse than the rest of Europe.

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    Mute John Mulligan
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 9:25 AM

    People should go and look at one, and then give their view.
    I was initially sceptical about these developments, and indeed they should be well scrutinised, but I looked at one in London in January and I was impressed.
    They aren’t designed to house families, they are somewhere between a hotel and an apartment, designed for single occupancy for shortish lets.
    A lot of people move to Dublin for one or two year contracts in the IT sector, and having this option means they aren’t occupying an apartment that might suit a family. These developments are targeted at a specific sector, same as student accommodation is targeted at students.
    Opposition to co-living developments makes a great rallying cry for certain groups, but they are either misinformed or deliberately ignoring the reality.

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    Mute Jose Maria
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    Sep 3rd 2020, 11:21 AM

    Dublin, one of the youngest cities in Europe and with no co-living places.

    I guess the people that don’t agree with that is because they prefer to live in bunk beds or in old houses.

    Student residences are nice for people until 24 and co-living places are nice for expats and people until their 30s.

    Is it that difficult to understand?

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    Mute vanc
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    Sep 6th 2020, 12:08 PM

    We need affordable housing full stop. Not everyone needs a 3 bed semi-detached or a 2bed appt. These units are smaller than a hotel room for 1.5-2k per month. You could actually long stay in in a b&b for that!

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