Translator says Lawlor decision saved her life

THE female translator who survived the car smash in which Liam Lawlor was killed said the former TD might have saved her life.

Juliya Kushnir said she was about to sit beside her employer in the back seat when he directed her to sit in the front passenger seat.

The Ukranian national escaped serious injury in the crash, which happened last Saturday week in Moscow.

The left-hand side of the car, where Mr Lawlor and his business partner and driver were seated, was badly mangled when it smashed into a pole. It emerged yesterday that the Mercedes was travelling at around 120mph in a 60mph zone when the crash happened.

Ms Kushnir, 29, said she intended to sue several Sunday newspapers over claims she was a prostitute.

The Sunday Independent, The Sunday Tribune and the Observer published front-page apologies yesterday over their reports, while the Sunday World carried an apology on page two.

In Ireland on Sunday, Ms Kushnir said she survived after Mr Lawlor told her to sit in the front seat.

“I was about to sit next to him in the back seat but he told me to go to the front. Why did he say it? It all happened so quickly. I still can’t believe it.”

Ms Kushnir said she still remembered little about the accident.

Police have said that had she sat in the back seat beside Mr Lawlor she could have died. The front passenger seat was furthest from the point of impact.

Ms Kushnir, a law graduate who lives in Prague, said Mr Lawlor was “clever and intelligent” and “an interesting person to talk to”.

She said she was furious at reports in many of last Sunday’s newspapers: “I am very angry to know some Irish newspapers rushed to call me a prostitute. I can’t understand how they could do it before finding out all the circumstances of the crash. I am keen to protect my name and will take them to court as soon as I am ready for it.”

Police are investigating if the driver lost control when he swerved to avoid a woman on the road.

Meanwhile, on RTÉ, Junior Minister at the Department of Health, Brian Lenihan, said it would be “one of the great ironies of Liam Lawlor’s death that one of his permanent achievements may be the establishment of a press council”.