‘Our close-knit family has been torn apart’
Those were the words of Catherine O’Flynn at an inquest yesterday. She fought back tears as she spoke of losing her 12-year-old nephew, Billy Kelleher, in a crash near Fermoy, Co Cork on February 20, 2005.
The person she was referring to, lorry driver Gerard Bloomfield, sat just a few feet away from both the aunt and the distraught parents of the dead boy, Margaret and Willie Kelleher.
Last November, Bloomfield, aged 46, from Green Road, Dromiskin, Dundalk, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of the little boy. He was given a two-year suspended sentence and banned from driving for 15 years.
The family sought an appeal against the leniency of the sentence but the Director of Public Prosecutions rejected their request.
Ms O’Flynn, who is still receiving counselling, described how an afternoon at the circus turned to tragedy. She was driving home with her nephew and her own three children when the accident occurred at 4.45pm at Corrin, two miles south of Fermoy.
She indicated she was turning off the main road and was waiting for a gap when a petrol tanker struck the rear of her Toyota Corolla. The force of the impact pushed her into the path of an oncoming car.
When her car came to a standstill, her main concern was the children.
“I checked and, as a nurse, I immediately sensed my nephew was dead,” she said.
Her own son was seriously injured and spent two weeks in a coma before regaining consciousness.
Witness Susan Eaton, who was driving to Cork at the time, said she could clearly see Ms O’Flynn was signalling to turn and saw no indication that the lorry was going to slow down.
The tanker driver, Bloomfield, told coroner Dr Michael Kennedy he didn’t remember anything about the crash and said he sat in his truck until gardaí arrived at the scene. He said he was very familiar with the area as he travelled the road five times a week, and wasn’t using a mobile phone at the time of the collision.
Garda Adrian Tucker, an expert in accident investigation, said a tachograph showed the truck was travelling at 85km per hour.
“There was no effort to stop the vehicle prior to the impact. The speed limit for that class of vehicle is 80km,” Garda Tucker said.
Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said the deceased suffered multiple injuries and his death was instant.
Inspector Senan Ryan said there had been a number of accidents in the same location, but the junction had since been altered.
“Unfortunately, it took the tragic loss of a young boy to change the traffic layout,” said another garda witness, Sergeant Sean Leahy.
After the hearing, the boy’s family said they were upset Bloomfield had not taken the opportunity to apologise to them.
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