Beach prayers for tragic murder victim Jolanta

Apr 20 2008 By John Mceachran

Memorial To Head-On-Beach Victim

A LITTLE girl scattered pebbles on the shore yesterday in a poignant tribute to head-on-the beach horror victim Jolanta Bledaite.

Watched by 200 mourners, four-year-old Millie Smith cast the stones from the garden of the Lithuanian's grandmother on an Arbroath beach.

A Roman Catholic mass was held at a spot overlooking the shoreline where the grim discovery of 35-year-old Jolanta's remains was made earlier this month.

The ceremony was organised by Millie's mum, Sue, a support worker for migrant workers, who visited Jolanta's family in Lithuania after her murder.

Sue said: "I know this service means a lot to Jolanta's family. It will bring them comfort.

"Jolanta's grandmother has asked me to take my three children over to Lithuania to meet her and I will do that. Jolanta used to play with those pebbles in her grandmother's garden when she was a child."

The beach service was led by local priest Father Kevin Golden.

It was attended by the Lithuanian ambassador to the UK and the Lithuanian consul in Scotland, Bill Toner.

Jolanta had come to Scotland to work to get cash to pay medical bills for her terminally ill dad Saranus, who is suffering from cancer.

She had been staying in nearby Brechin before her death.

Her head was found in a bag by two sisters, aged eight and 11, as they played on the beach.

Her hands were also found on the beach and a suitcase full of her remaining body parts was pulled from Arbroath harbour.

Two Lithuanian men, Vitas Plytnykas, 40, and 19-year-old Aleksandra Skirda have been charged with her murder.

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