Gavin, four, out of coma

LITTLE Gavin Murray has regained consciousness a week after he and his sister were badly burned when their mother’s car erupted in flames near the family’s Limerick home.

Gavin, four, and his six-year-old sister Millie were sitting in the car in the 1,100-house Moyross estate on Sunday week when the vehicle caught fire after an alleged petrol attack.

Two 17-year-olds have been charged in connection with the incident.

A 16-year-old was released at the weekend without charge.

It was the “quick thinking and bravery of the decent people of Moyross” that had saved the children from certain death, according to their uncle, Leo McNamara.

Both are being treated at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Dublin. At one stage fears were expressed for their survival due to the extent of their injuries. Both face years of skin graft operations.

Gavin, who was more severely injured than his sister and had lain in a coma for the past week, woke up on Sunday, according to his mother Sheila, 35.

“Gavin has moved his legs and he is aware, while Millie is improving,” she said.

Sheila and her husband Niall McNamara have maintained a bedside vigil in the hospital.

The couple have six other children, aged from 16 months to 17 years.

Mr McNamara said the two injured children could be in hospital for a year because of their injuries.