The daughter of one of the victims of the Stardust fire has told the inquest that the loss of her mother at such a young age has left her feeling like “a four-and-a-half-year-old child trapped” in the body of a woman.
Samantha Mangan told the inquest taking place before the Dublin District Coroner’s Court that for years she would pretend her mother Helena was still alive and had lost her memory after getting out of the fire, which killed 48 people when it swept through the Stardust nightclub on February 14, 1981.
Samantha said that throughout her teenage years, she would scan the streets trying to pick her out, and any time she heard someone saying the name ‘Helena’ she would turn around expecting it to be her mother.
