Mourners hear victim's prayers

Maria's father helps carry her coffin from church

Mourners at the funeral of murdered west Belfast woman Maria McConnell have heard how she battled depression during her short life.

The 22-year-old from Coolnasilla Park East off the Glen Road was found dead in a house after being missing for nearly two weeks.

She disappeared after visiting a Belfast nightclub on 14 July.

Her body was found 13 days later in a terraced house in Canterbury Street in the university area of south Belfast.

Maria McConnell had been missing for 13 days

Several hundred people turned out to pay their respects to Maria at Requiem Mass in the Holy Spirit Church on the Glen Road on Thursday.

Her father Frank led the Psalms.

Extracts from her diary were read to the congregation by a cousin of her mother, a Jesuit priest, who conducted the Mass.

Maria had spoken of her fears and her faith in God.

Father Connla O'Dulaine read from the diary: "I do have so much to offer others - love, concern, humour.

"It is hurting me so much, now more than ever, because at last you have given me the wisdom, the reason for living and the sense to unlock my self-absorbed, isolated being.

"Please Sacred Heart and Mary I beg you help me to get my body back."

Politicians including Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and his colleague Alex Maskey and SDLP assembly member Joe Hendron attended the funeral.

Murder charge

The young woman had been treated for depression and rarely ventured outside the family home until the night she went to the Brunswick Street club in Belfast.

Footage from the security camera at the nightclub showed her hailing a taxi with a man.

Police still want to trace the driver of the taxi.

During the search for Maria, her parents described her as a "vulnerable" girl who was not very street-wise.

The discovery of her body followed a number of anonymous phone calls to the police from a man. The police still want that man to come forward.

Maria was buried at Milltown Cemetery in the city.

She is survived by her parents Nuala and Frank and two brothers Peter and John.

A 21-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged with her murder.