Dlava Mohamed, the 16-year-old girl who was killed in a single-car collision on her way to a Debs ball outside Clones on Monday, was known in the Co Monaghan town for her kind and warm personality.
Walking up towards the Diamond, where the Mohamed house is located in Clones, Rehab Ramadan described her as a “very kind, beautiful girl.”
“She was like my daughter,” Ms Ramadan, a friend of the Mohamed family, said. “She was always on the street, happy all day ... happy all the time.”
The family, originally from Syria, moved to Ireland in 2018. The family spent eight months in Monasterevin, Co Kildare, before coming to Clones, as part of a resettlement programme established in wake of unrest in the Middle Eastern country.
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Dlava had different pastimes – she liked music, Ms Ramadan said – but mainly she just loved spending time with her friends. Her best friend Kiea McCann, who also died in the crash on Monday evening, was never far from her side, often spending time at the Mohamed household.
Other local people have spoken of how Ms Mohamed was often seen out on the street in Clones, smiling with friends and family.
Rashid Mohamed (17), the brother of Ms Mohamed, found it difficult to articulate his feelings in the wake of the tragedy, but said that he had many “good memories” with his sister.
Ms Mohamed was due to start transition year at Largy College in September, having completed her Junior Certificate a few months ago.
“Dlava will be a massive loss to our school community,” Sharon Magennis, principal of the school, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland on Wednesday.
“Both girls were integral to our community. We’re just heartbroken.
“Dlava was always smiling. She was a gorgeous soul. Loyal and bubbly, and always very happy in and around the school.
“She radiated goodness. She was just full of energy.”
A statement by the school, issued on Wednesday, said she had “settled in so well to the Clones area and the Largy College community” and was “an integral part of our Third Year group”.
It added that she was a “very moral young girl who had a strong sense of right and wrong and the courage of her convictions to express these”.
In the town, one woman, who asked not today be named, simply described her as a beautiful girl from a beautiful family. She was walking away from the Mohamed household, having commiserated with the bereaved family.
