Sinéad O’Connor is mourning the death of her 17-year-old son on Friday, not long after he was reported missing.
“My beautiful son, Nevi’im Nesta Ali Shane O’Connor, the very light of my life, decided to end his earthly struggle today,” the 55-year-old singer tweeted early Saturday. “May he rest in peace and may no one follow his example. My baby. I love you so much. Please be at peace.”
She later posted a link to Bob Marley’s “Ride Natty Ride” and wrote: “This is for my Shaney. The light of my life. The lamp of my soul. My blue-eye baby. You will always be my light. We will always be together. No boundary can separate us.”
Ireland’s national police service, the Gardaí, said Shane’s body was recovered on Friday in Wicklow, about 50 km south of Dublin.
The teen, whose father is Irish folk musician Dónal Lunny, went missing Thursday from Tallaght University Hospital in Dublin, where he was receiving treatment following a pair of suicide attempts a week earlier, according to Sinéad.
Sinéad used social media to appeal directly to her son to turn himself into the Gardai. “Shane, your life is precious. God didn’t chisel that beautiful smile on your beautiful face for nothing,” Sinéad wrote. “My world would collapse without you. You are my heart. Please don’t stop it from beating. Please don’t harm yourself. Go to the Gardai and let’s get you to hospital.”
In 2017, Sinéad posted an emotional video on Facebook – in which she said she is "mentally f**king ill" and “fighting…to stay alive every day" – begging for Ireland's family services agency to reverse its decision to remove Shane from her custody.
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