I was walking in my local park, at the end of a long winter, when I found her. A naked body of a little girl was lying among the fallen leaves. She would have been about five or six.

I live in the leafy Dublin suburb of Foxrock, which is residence to some of the wealthiest Irish people. Somewhere where I thought such a horrible discovery would be unimaginable.

The little girl had blonde curly hair. She had stab wounds all over her chest and arms. Her right eyelid was bruised. It was beyond my comprehension how someone could have committed such a monstrous act. Who was this child? Was it little Lucy who was reported missing last week or was it some other unfortunate girl? What motive did the killer have for murdering a young child? My heart was pounding and I started to sweat. I felt as if I was about to have one of my panic attacks.

Trembling, I fished my phone out of my jeans' back pocket and dialled 112 to report my discovery to the Gardaí.

I looked at the body closely and noticed a silver heart-shaped locket necklace hanging onto the right hand side of the little girl's neck. I wondered who had given her that necklace and whether there was a photo of someone in the locket. Could whoever was in that locket be linked to the murder?

I was trying to rack my brain about how this young angel ended up here when I heard the Gardaí siren screeching in the distance.

I decided to walk away and let them deal with the crime scene as it was just too overwhelming for me to have to talk to anyone when I was still in such a state of shock.

(Written: July 2015)