Mourners cried openly as Nicola Furlong’s younger sister told them how ‘the jigsaw of her life would never be finished’ after her horrific murder in Tokyo.

Nicola was found dead and an Irish student friend in a critical condition in a Japanese hotel room two weeks ago.

Two Americans, who befriended the girls after a Nicki Minaj concert, are currently awaiting trial for her murder and the assault on the second girl.

Hundreds of mourners packed St Margaret’s Church in Nicola’s home village of Curracloe in Wexford on Sunday as her heartbroken family said their goodbyes.

Andrea, her 18-year-old sister, told the congregation: “It’s not goodbye. It’s see you later.”

Talking of her sister, who was in Japan on a college exchange programme, Andrea added: “I was Nicola’s big little sister. We were like “terrible twins”.

“Nic truly was a ditsy blonde. She would daydream about her future as a WAG to a famous footballer and that would be Danny [her boyfriend, striker with Wexford Youths].

“She would dream how she would have a mansion and that I could have an entire floor of it to myself. Nic would talk about us in our 70s and how we would still be able to party and attract all the good looking guys even though we would be using zimmer frames.

“There are no words in the dictionary to describe my sister, best friend, and rock. In time, I hope, my pain will ease.”

Nicola was buried in a pink coffin in St Margaret’s church, just yards from the family’s bungalow on the edge of the village.

The Irish Examiner reports that local priest Fr Jim Fitzpatrick told mourners: “If someone tells you they have an answer to this, they are lying. People are full of sadness and despair.

“Nicola’s life was God-given and she represented everything that was good, wholesome, and lovely.

“She had so much ability, energy and charisma, but her life was tragically and violently cut short. We are grieving what might have been, and what should have been, in her precious life.”

Here's the International Business Times' report: