A heartbroken mum whose husband murdered their daughter has revealed she exhumed the child’s body amid fears she had “abandoned her”.
Rebecca Saunders was 26 when her husband Martin McCarthy, 50, drowned Clarissa and killed himself. They were buried together in Cork in 2013 but three-year-old Clarissa’s remains were exhumed last Friday.
Rebecca, from Houston in Texas, said: “I wanted to exhume Clarissa from the moment her coffin was laid in the ground. I didn’t have peace. I felt like I had abandoned her. I just felt like I had made the worst decision that I could.
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“Being able to remove her from the arms of her murderer and have her closer to me has certainly given me a greater sense of comfort and peace.”
Rebecca arrived at the graveyard at 4am on Friday before scaffolding was erected and the exhumation was carried out. The bodies were then taken to Clonakilty for separation.
She said: “Once the exhumation was done and the separation was completed, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.
“I’m going to take Clarissa’s remains home to Houston and I’m going to separate the cremated ashes and make pieces of commemorative jewellery. I will share these with people who loved her and who she loved.”
Rebecca is due to fly home to the US with Clarissa’s ashes in the coming days. She said: “I don’t have any wish to return to Ireland. If my other daughters have a wish to visit where their elder sister grew up, I would love to be able to share this wonderful place with them.
“But I think that on my own, I don’t wish to return here any time soon.”
A plaque is to be erected at Audley Cove, where Clarissa died on March 5, 2013, near the Ballydehob family home.
Rebecca said: “Clarissa didn’t just spend the last moments of her life there, it was her favourite place in the whole wide world. She played there every day.”
And she thanked the public for helping her to raise the money to bring Clarissa to the US. She told RTE Radio 1’s Today with Claire Byrne show: “I couldn’t have asked for more. I have so many people to thank.”
From the leftover funds, €4,690 will go to a domestic violence centre in Cork and €4,690 for a neonatal unit in the city.
The remaining unspecified amount will go to Cork’s inshore search and rescue team who found Clarissa’s body.
- Help is available from the Samaritans on 116 123, Aware on 1800 804848, Pieta House on 1800 247247, Teen-Line Ireland on 1800 833634 and Childline on 1800 666666.
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