by Lynn Cox

They should have been getting married later this year, but instead, Kirsty Bryant will be organising her fiance’s funeral.

Heartbroken Kirsty is the partner of stab victim David Young, and she has spoken out for the first time to pay tribute to the “devoted” dad-of-two.

David, 28, of Beatty Avenue, Gillingham, died on January 5 after being stabbed on New Year’s Day.

David was Kirsty’s childhood sweetheart and the pair had been together since they were 14.

They later moved in together and had their first child, Aliyah, now eight, and went on to have Latia, who is now five.

Kirsty, 27, said: “Dave was a great dad and partner, he lived for his girls and me, he was devoted to us.

“We’ve not been separated since we started going out at school and we were going to get married this year, we got engaged last year.”

Kirsty’s world came tumbling down after the stabbing, but for the first few days, she was hopeful David would pull through.

She added: “We thought he was going to be OK. He opened his eyes and seemed to be responding to us. We had hope all the way through and he was a fighter but he never woke up again.”

His daughters, Kirsty, Dave’s mum and other family members were all able to say their goodbyes to him before he died.

Kirsty said: “We spent the last hour with him and the girls were able to hold his hand, they were saying to him, ‘Daddy, Daddy, please wake up, Daddy I love you’. It was heartbreaking, they gave him some bracelets they wanted him to have.”

Kirsty said her daughters are struggling with their grief but she is determined David will live on in the girls.

She added: “He was a proud dad and did everything for me and the girls. to

For more on Kirsty’s tribute see today's edition of the Medway Messenger