One child injured in the Waterford arson attack is “slowly making progress”, while her younger brother remains in a critical condition, their aunt has said.
The two children survived the attack, which killed 12-year-old Callum, nine-year-old Jayden, and their parents, Philip and Kim English.
Jackie English, Philip’s sister, said the family was still waiting for clearer news about the children’s condition. “All I know is that [he] is still critical, and [she] is just more or less slowly making progress, but we still don’t know,” she said.
Uniformed gardaí are maintaining a presence at the hospital while the children receive treatment, with a senior source saying the decision was a precautionary measure.
“They are just erring on the side of caution. There’s no way anyone is going to go near the hospital to do anything to the kids,” the source said.
The children have not yet been interviewed by gardaí, meaning their first account of what happened is expected to be important to the investigation.
The senior source said officers would need to ensure that the children’s account “hasn’t been interfered with in any way”.
Ms English, who lives around the corner from her late brother’s home, said she witnessed the aftermath of the attack.
“I just got my door nearly kicked down asking me to go up, [being told] my brother’s house was on fire by [Philip and] Kim’s neighbours,” she said.
Describing the attack as an “absolute disgrace”, Ms English added: “I’m numb. I’m in shock. I’m lost for words right now.”
Kim’s sister, Charlene Companjen, paid tribute to her in a social media message, describing her as “the light of my life” and saying she had “broke the cycle and became the best mother I have ever seen”.
Ms Companjen said her final words to her sister had been: “I love you.” She described Callum as “such a bright boy who lived so care free” and Jayden as “always up to trouble”, recalling playing with him, cuddling him and watching Paw Patrol.
She also described Philip as “an amazing father” and said she had loved him from the moment he was introduced to Kim’s family.
Waterford City South councillor Seamus Ryan said the tragedy had left the local community “hurting and hurting badly”. He praised parish priest Father Gerry Chestnutt and the first responders who attended the scene.
“There’s a pall over the local community, it will take a very long time to get over this,” he said, adding that the extended English family would need support services and counselling.
