Toddler ‘lucky to be alive’ after rock thrown at camper van

A FAMILY holiday almost turned to tragedy after a toddler was hit on the head by a rock thrown at his camper van.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Marcel Burke from France suffered a gaping wound to his forehead, lost a considerable amount of blood and was lucky to survive the terrifying incident on Cork’s South Link Road.

The toddler was recovering at the home of relatives in Glanmire last night.

His father, John, said the family is very relieved that he will make a full recovery.

“We are lucky that he got away so light. We could have been facing into a situation where Marcel could have lost an eye, suffered brain damage, or worse — we could have been putting him into a white coffin,” he said.

Mr Burke, originally from Glanmire, lives with his wife Janet and their five children, Marie Julie, 10, Mary Claire, 8, Thérèse, 7, Angelica, 4, and Marcel, in the Picardie region in northern France.

They arrived in Ireland for a family holiday on July 7 and are due to return to France next weekend.

Mr Burke was driving his camper van east on the South Link Road towards the Jack Lynch tunnel at about 2.40pm on Sunday.

The children were sitting in the living compartment.

The vehicle had just passed the exit-ramp from Mahon Point when John heard what he thought was an explosion.

“The children began screaming and my wife shouted stop,” he said.

“I braked immediately and swerved over to the left. I was lucky I didn’t cause an accident. I pulled in and stopped and looked back to see blood everywhere. The blood was pumping out of Marcel, and I dialled 999.

“My wife got a cloth and covered the wound. We didn’t know what had happened. We saw a big hole in the double perspex side window and thought it may have been a bullet.

“Then I looked back the road, about 80 metres, and saw a silver Megane pulled in with a shattered windscreen. The woman said it had been hit by a stone. Then later, we found the stone in the back of our van and just couldn’t believe it.

“If I had been driving a fraction of a second slower it would have come in my side window and I could have crashed the van, flipped it, or anything. There could have been seven people dead. We are just so fortunate it didn’t strike Marcel in the wrong part of the head,” he said.

Marcel was brought to Cork University Hospital (CUH) and detained over- night before being released yesterday.

The gaping wound on his forehead will be stitched this morning by a specialist plastic surgeon at CUH.

Gardaí were on the scene quickly and recovered the 3in by 3in stone.

Blackrock-based Garda sergeant Fergus Twomey, who is leading the investigation, described it as a “lethal missile” and the attack as a “potentially fatal incident”.

He said it had been thrown blindly from behind an embankment on the left side of the road. If the rock had struck Marcel an inch either side, he could have been killed, he said.

“I would appeal for a stop to this very dangerous practice and for witnesses to come forward and contact us on 021 435 7401.

“I would also call on parents to explain to their children the dangers of this behaviour, and the consequences it can have to people in cars.”

Two cars were damaged in a similar incident in the same location on Saturday.

“We are monitoring the area and are conducting inquiries and are optimistic about a positive outcome,” said Sgt Twomey.