The husband of tragic Jacqueline McGovern – mowed down by a speeding getaway car – has described her as his “soulmate”.
Brendan McGovern said the raiders who left the mum of three dying on the road as they fled the crash scene in Dublin “took away the love of our lives”.
He added: “For 36 years we lived our dream together, Jackie was an absolutely gorgeous woman.
“They took the love of our lives away. She was the love of my life. We hope that justice is done."
Jackie’s heartbroken father Paul added: “She was an angel. Half my heart is gone with her.”
The 54-year-old special needs assistant was out walking with her best friend Audrey Behan last Tuesday night near her home in Killiney, South Dublin, when an armed robbery gang mounted the footpath in a speeding getaway car.
She suffered catastrophic injuries in the collision at Avondale Road and later died in St Vincent’s Hospital.
The gang had raided a Centra in nearby Dalkey minutes earlier.
Brendan said it was Audrey’s husband Colin who phoned him with the horrific news.
He told the Sunday Independent: “I drove up, parked on the roundabout and I ran up.
“I could see she was being worked on at the scene. I was told to stay back.
“When I saw the car I knew she was not going to make it.”
Brendan told how Jackie shouted a warning to her friend and colleague at Our Lady of Good Counsel Girls School moments before the impact.
Jackie, from Glasthule, was mother to Oisin, 28, Cormac, 24, and 21-year-old Clodagh.
The family have asked that mourners at the funeral wear bright clothes to symbolise the life she led. The service will take place at 10am on Wednesday at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Johnstown, Killiney.
Gardai quickly identified the three-man gang behind the robbery who fled the scene of the hit-and-run horror.
They are all from surrounding neighbourhoods in South Dublin and were filmed on CCTV at numerous locations. The three men jumped from the wreckage and ran to a nearby pub.
They were turned away before moving to another bar where they were served.
It’s understood they left a trail of forensic evidence behind them.
