BY ELAINE SHERIDAN
THE GRIEVING family of the brave teenager who drowned in Brazil a fortnight ago are struggling to come to terms with their tragic loss.
Diarmuid and Rosemary Kennelly, from Wicklow and Armagh, say their world has been turned upside down since hearing that their son Timothy drowned while trying to save a friend who got into difficulty in the waters of Atalaia beach on the north east coast of the South American country.
The Ealing-based couple are now struggling to find thousands of pounds to bring the 18-yearold’s body home to London because he had no travel insurance.
They estimate it will cost at least £10,000 to have the body repatriated back to Britain and are hoping to raise some money to help with the cost.
Speaking from the family home mum Rosemary Kennelly says it is a nightmare situation to be faced with. “It’s absolutely horrific,” she said.
“A total bolt out of the blue. Think of your worst nightmare and treble that and it doesn’t even come close to how we’re feeling. It’s pure agony.” Timothy was only two weeks into a 23-date music tour of Brazil with his heavy metal band After Death when tragedy struck.
A trip to the beach ended in disaster when guitarist Leon Villalba, 21, struggled in rough waters. Despite being a poor swimmer brave Timothy jumped straight in to help his friend.
Unfortunately both drowned. The body of Mr Villalba washed up on shore 20 minutes after the incident while Timothy was found 15 miles down the coastline the next day.
However the Kennelly family did not hear about the tragedies for two days until a journalist rang a friend of the family for a comment.
Rosemary, 56, who hails from Lurgan, Co. Armagh recalls the day she heard the devastating news.
She said: “My neighbours came to the door and I thought there was something wrong with one of them. They didn’t look right. I thought they had got bad news. They weren’t saying anything at first and then they broke the news. They said there was an accident. I knew when they said a swimming accident that Timothy was dead. I just knew he was dead because he wasn’t a strong swimmer. I had no hope of him being found alive at that stage. You could say it was a mother’s instinct.”
The desperate family now face an agonising wait to fly Timothy’s body home from Brazil, due to bureaucracy and paperwork.
When he does arrive back in London the teenager’s funeral will be held at Ealing Abbey where Timothy — a former student at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in Shepherd’s Bush — served as an alter boy for many years when he was younger. He will then be buried in nearby Greenford.
The family do not want Timothy’s death to be in vain and offered words of advice to parents whose children are travelling abroad — make sure they have copies of all travel documents, especially insurance and passport details.
The Kennelly family had thought that their son’s record label, Death Toll Records, had taken care of all those arrangements, but later discovered none of the five band members were insured for the overseas trip.
Diarmuid, 64, said: “The record label said that they told the lads to take out insurance but the lads denied they had told them. I believe it was just sheer inexperience on their behalf. It serves no useful purpose to blame or get angry with them now.
“They are totally devastated by the deaths and have to live with that. And we all know that hindsight is a wonderful thing.”
The former fishmonger said that although the family were a bit apprehensive about the trip at first they certainly would not deny their son the chance to see the world.
He added: “It was the chance of a lifetime and we couldn’t stop him.We wouldn’t even try.”
The record company’s website — www.deathtollrecords.com — is asking people to donate money to help repatriate both Timothy and Leon to Britain.
A statement on the website reads: “On Thursday, 21st January, guitarist Leon Villalba and bassist Timothy Kennelly, both members of British metal band After Death, died, victims of a terrible accident on a beach in Aracaju, Brazil.
Leon and Tim were swimming in Atalaia around 2.30pm. When Leon began to struggle, Tim went to his aid but the sea took them both. The reasons for the drowning are still unknown, although the beach is known to have the potential to be dangerous.”
It adds: “We are asking every friend of theirs, friends of ours, colleagues, labels, bands, musicians, everyone to help us to raise some money to aid the families.”