The step father of an Australian girl killed after being hit by a car on the isle of Skye has said that thank you is “not enough” for all of the support the family has received.
Madison – or Maddy – Rice, 21, was working at Kinloch Lodge in Sleat with her boyfriend Joe Perry.
The couple had been enjoying a day off work when the tragedy happened a year ago in the early hours of the morning near the Sligachan Hotel.
Body of Australian woman killed on Skye to be repatriated next week
More than £15,000 was raised in one day to repatriate her body home to Queensland after an online appeal was launched. Many of those who donated were from Skye.
Her family were at Kinloch Lodge yesterday to mark the first anniversary of her death. Owner Isabella Macdonald has planted a cherry blossom tree there in her memory.
Stepfather Alix Welsh wrote: “Today I write this from Kinloch Lodge a year after we lost an important part of our soul. I would give anything to give her back to Kerry, Harlan and her close friends. She had so much to do and to offer.
“It is an amazing place that she and Joe found together and we can see how loved and appreciated she was. Not just as part of the team at Kinloch Lodge, but as an extended family with Isabella and everyone here at the time.
“We hear that people that knew her here still come to visit her cherry blossom tree. Isabella so kindly placed a chair next to her tree with a plaque on it in remembrance of our wonderful girl. We are and will be forever grateful for all that Isabella and the team at Kinloch Lodge did for Joe and for us during this difficult time.
“I feel so proud of her. For what she achieved and the amazing person she was. No parent, step or not, should outlive their kids. It’s just not natural.
“I promised Maddy that I would take care of her family. If only, somehow, I could have prevented this happening to her.
“I still promise to continue that promise to always be best I can be for her mum Kerry and her brother Harlan. To always let them know how much I love them. To follow dreams with them and to create lots of new dreams and memories.
“We will always love you Maddy. Forever young and in our hearts always.”
