Caitlin-Rose McMullan funeral: The father of an 11-year-old Castledawson girl who died after road accident will always remember dancing with her on the beach in Thailand

The father of an 11-year-old Co Londonderry girl who died after a tragic road accident will always remember her as the girl who did a victory dance with him on a beach in Thailand recently after winning a family water fight.

Caitlin-Rose McMullan was struck by a car after exiting a school bus outside Castledawson, Co Londonderry last Wednesday afternoon.

A family notice said she was the beloved daughter of Colm and Stella, dear sister of Shéa, and granddaughter of Mehall and Kate and also Rosemary and Clement.

Her funeral took place today (Sunday) in the Church of St Mary, Bellaghy.

Speaking at the start of the service, her father Colm paid tribute to his daughter, his voice trembling.

"I would like to share a memory of Caitlin,” he said. “There's one about our trip to Thailand a few months ago as a family."

On the beach he had Caitlin on his shoulders and they were play fighting two other family members in the sea.

"It was a clear victory for me and Caitlin and we had a little victory dance," he said. "This is a memory of Caitlyn I will cherish forever in the way we should all remember her for her funny, kind and caring soul."

At the front of the chapel were pink bouquets spelling out her name and tokens of her life – her passport, make-up, art and teddy, which Monsignor Andy Dolan said was her source of comfort.

For their comfort blanket, he suggested her family could consider the huge crowd of mourners that had turned out to support them - and their Christian faith.

"There's one thing in the journey of life that we all sort of take for granted, that parents don't ever expect to bury their child - perish the thought of such a circumstance," he said.

"Today, we commend a lovely, gentle soul to God, gone all too quick by our human reckoning.

"But also we gather here, in faith, recognizing as Christian people that death is not the end of the story for Caitlin Rose, or indeed, for any of us.

"Jesus says to us, ‘Do not be afraid. I go to prepare a place for you, and when I have prepared that place, I shall take you with me, so that where I am, you may be too.

"And that's our prayer too, where Christ is that Caitlin Rose is there too, in a place beyond our wildest imaginings."

He said there was “something profoundly sad about the death of a young person” and that her “tragic” death brings “such shock and sadness and just questioning within a community”.

There were no easy answers to why she died, and said he would was not offer any pious platitudes.

He noted that she wasn't into camogie or football, but loved "style and travel".

The stamps on her passport were like a map of the world, and she had “flair and taste” for things artistic; She loved drawing - especially animals.

Make-up, shopping and spending money were her passions, he added.

Reflecting that she had "a short life lived to the full" he said: "We commend that gift [Caitlin Rose] back to God who was given on loan for all too short a time."