Mourners at Amy Doherty’s funeral hear of her ‘magnetic personality’

By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association

Mourners at the funeral of Amy Doherty have been told she had a “magnetic personality” and “would draw people to her by her joyful smile”.

The 28-year-old mother was found badly injured by police on Saturday and died later in hospital.

A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

The funeral mass for Ms Doherty took place on Thursday at Holy Family Church in Ballymagroarty, Londonderry.

Parish priest Fr Joe Gormley told the congregation it was “a very sad day for the family of Amy Doherty, a very sad day for our parish and city”.

He said mourners would be thinking of Rhea and Ronan, Ms Doherty’s two children, and would be trying to “make sense of the events of last Saturday”.

He said March 21 is a day where, for the first time in six months, “the time of light in our days exceeds the time of darkness”, but “the death of Amy brought a darkness, a sadness, anguish deeper than any lack of daylight”.

He said: “The darkness is, in a sense, deeply intensified when we hear the human story of the beauty of who Amy Doherty is.

“Amy is a person who has a magnetic personality who would draw people to her by her joyful smile.”

He described her as a “dedicated care worker” who lifted the spirits of patients at Altnagelvin Hospital, in Derry, during the pandemic.

“She’d always try and find fun, find humour, particularly in those dark days when people were very afraid,” he said.

He said she helped people set up video calls and encouraged patients to connect with people outside and enabled “those who maybe hadn’t connected with others for a long time, to begin to do so, and to use the opportunity of Covid to do that”.

However, he said, the “heart of her care” was her two children, who “are the centre of our thoughts and prayers today and beyond”.

Ms Doherty is survived by her parents, Patrick and Sharon, and her younger brothers, Shane and Ryan.

On Wednesday the PSNI said the man who was arrested was receiving medical treatment and was not fit for police interview.

According to Women’s Aid, Ms Doherty was the 30th woman in Northern Ireland to have been killed since 2020.

Fr Gormley said “a new culture” needed to be built “in the city and society and beyond” where “women are honoured, loved and cherished in the same way as Jesus loved, honoured and cherished women who knew he could depend on them when he couldn’t depend even on the disciples”.

A friend of Ms Doherty, Jasmine, read a poem about her which described her as “the laughter in the daylight” and “the warmth of every room”.

It also included the lines “Amy is more than how she left us” and “She’s not a shadow, she’s not a number, but she’s the light she gave so free”.

A mourner holds an order of service, which shows a picture of Amy Doherty with her children Rhea and Ronan (Photo by PA)