THE FAMILY OF missing woman Esra Uyrun, have over the last six years, endured seemingly endless disappointments, health scares and grief.
The 34-year-old woman left her home in Collinstown Grove in Clondalkin on 23 February 2011 and got into her car to go buy some milk.
Later that night her car, a silver Renault Twingo (08 D 23067), was found near Bray Head in Wicklow, but there has been no trace of Esra since then and her family has never heard from her.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie ahead of a ceremony later this morning to mark Missing Persons Day, her sister Berna Fidan said it has been “one thing after another” since Esra went missing.
“Mum was diagnosed with cancer and she’s in remission now thankfully. We had another blow last week, my brother had a heart attack,” she said.
When I got the phonecall about my brother, she was the first thing I thought of because it’s only the three of us – me, my brother and my sister – and the first thing I thought was ‘I can’t lose him too’.
Fidan said it was “touch and go” for a while, but her brother is now on the mend.
Earlier this year, the family had asked gardaí if CCTV footage showing Esra’s car heading towards the car park it was abandoned in could be enhanced.
“I’m staying the night and going to meet the gardaí on Thursday morning, but they’ve already told us that unfortunately they were unable to enhance anything. It didn’t pan out the way we would have liked.”
Six years on, she said the pain and worry for the missing woman’s family has not eased.
“You know people say it gets easier with time – it doesn’t really at all. As time goes by, it’s just harder, it’s more difficult, not getting any closer to what happened.”
Berna Fidan will join other families of missing persons to mark the national day at Farmleigh House in the Phonenix Park later this morning.
A commemorative ceremony with contributions from families will be followed by the release of homing pigeons and the laying of roses in the garden fountain outside the house.
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