THE mother of the 29-year-old woman who lost her life in a road traffic collision (RTC) near Brookeborough last week has described how she sat with her daughter and prayed for her at the scene, assisted by a female police liaison officer.
Kiara McCoy from Lisnaskea was on her way to Belfast for work the following day when she was killed in a two vehicle RTC on the Belfast Road last Tuesday evening. 

She leaves behind two young sons, Raphael aged eight and Jude aged four.
Speaking to the Impartial Reporter this week her loving parents, Vincent and Eileen, say they are determined to raise her boys to become the kind of men their mother would be proud of. “I see so much of Kiara in the boys,” said Eileen, “They are our focus now and we need to be strong for them.”
Eileen had been attending a Silent Retreat in Dromantine, Newry last week when the fatal collision occurred.
“I returned from prayer and found I had so many missed calls on my phone,” said Eileen, “I rang Vincent and he just couldn’t speak. He eventually told me: ‘Our girl is gone’.”
Eileen immediately made the journey back down the road to the scene of the collision and made the decision to see her daughter in her car.
“Two female police liaison officers assisted me. I got into the car beside Kiara, I sat with her, I fixed her hair, I kissed her and I started to pray with her,” said Eileen, “As I started, I heard the voice of one of the female officers praying along with me through the window of the car.”
The family say they are indebted to the support of police personnel.
“An off duty police officer stayed with me at the scene when I got there,” Vincent explained, “He was soaked but he didn’t want to leave. He was a great strength to me and I don’t even know his name.”
According to the Lisnaskea couple, their daughter’s greatest legacy lies within her work with Stanton Healthcare Belfast. The Executive Director of the women’s health centre offering support to women facing unexpected pregnancies, Kiara has been described as a “kind, gentle, intelligent, articulate, resilient, compassionate person” who “dedicated her life to protect unborn babies by providing loving care and help to women in crisis pregnancies”.
A passionate pro-life supporter, she became the president of the Queen’s University Belfast Pro-Life Society when she was studying law. “Her legacy will live on. Kiara is now in heaven with all the beautiful babies and mamas she saved,” said a message posted on the QUB Pro-Life Facebook page this week. And it was her commitment to her work that saw Kiara leaving Lisnaskea on Tuesday night to make her way to Belfast.
“Vincent was blessed to see her that evening,” said Eileen, “She gave him a big hug as she always did before she went out the door. Ten minutes later, she was gone.”
As a testament to the many lives she had touched in her 29 years, Kiara’s funeral on Saturday at Holy Cross Church, Lisnaskea was “enormous”, according to Parish Priest, Canon Joseph Mullin. Telling mourners that the mother of two was now “one of the brightest flowers in the garden of the Lord,” the priest described Kiara as a young woman who had the ability to “lift your heart no matter what was going on”.
The McCoy family had gathered together with Father Mullin only 10 days prior for the baptism of Kiara’s sister, Donna’s baby. “It was such a happy occasion,” he said, “Little did we know we would gather again so soon.” Father Mullin likened the Lisnaskea community to the California Redwood trees, which have the ability to grow tall in spite of shallow roots because they lean on and support each other. “That is what we as a good Christian community do, we support each other when we struggle, we hold on to each other and keep each other steady.”
Police have renewed their appeal for witnesses. Anyone who has any information is asked to contact officers in Enniskillen or the Collision Investigation Unit on 101 quoting reference number 1299 of 24/10/17.