DRUG DEALERS KILLED MY BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER - DRUG VICTIM'S MOTHER
SPEAKS OUT

The heartbroken mother of tragic drugs victim, Danielle Gibbens, says
her teenage daughter was "preyed on by evil drug dealers" who showed
total disregard for her safety.

Eighteen-year-old Danielle, from Walworth Park in Ballykelly, died
after taking a quantity of drugs - believed to have been three
ecstasy pills - at a party in Limavady on Thursday night last.

Her distraught mother, Mary, today choked back the tears as she told
the 'Journal' her daughter was a "beautiful, loving girl, who really
knew how to show you that she loved you."

"Danielle was just a typical teenager," she said. "There were times
when she would have driven me mad, but then there were the times when
we got on so well with each other and went out shopping or went for
coffee together.

"I loved her so much and it is really difficult to believe that she
has gone. We are a close-knit family and are pulling together to try
to get through this. My husband is just in pieces about this.

"Danielle was a vulnerable girl who was bullied at school because she
was heavy and that really hit her confidence. She lost a lot of
weight, but I don't think she ever recovered from being taunted at
school; despite this she was a beautiful-looking girl, she never saw
that in herself and I think her lack of self-esteem left her vulnerable.

"These drug dealers are evil and it is they who the police need to go
after. I wish they were all in jail or else where my daughter
Danielle is now. They drive around in their fancy cars and live in
nice houses and get all the young ones to go out and sell their drugs
for them and it is time they were stopped once and for all," added Mrs Gibbens.

She praised the local community in Ballykelly for their messages of
support in the wake of Danielle's death last week.

"People I barely know have been coming up to the house and they have
all been great," she said. "People have told me that I couldn't have
Danielle glued to my side 24 hours a day, but as her mother I still
feel that I could have done something to have stopped this happening,
even though I know that there was nothing I could have done.

"The only comfort I will get out of Danielle's death is if other
young people sit up and take notice of what happened to her and it
helps to get the message across about how dangerous these drugs are."

Danielle was buried following Requiem Mass at St Finlough's Church in
Ballykelly on Monday morning.