Mother forgives driver of car that killed daughter

A mother who lost her only child in a horrific collision has said she forgives the driver of the car that smashed into her family.

Zoe Scannell, aged 8, from Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick, was killed instantly after a collision last June, near Rosscarbery in West Cork.

Zoe’s mother, Alisha Scannell, suffered a number of serious injuries, while her partner, Eddie Murphy, sustained minor injuries.

Ian Lawlor O’Donovan, of the Grove, Ardagh East, in Roscarbery, had lost control of his car. Now aged 18, he was given a two-year suspended jail sentence last month.

Alisha yesterday spoke of her “beautiful-looking girl” she nicknamed Zoe Zoe.

“She had big brown eyes and beautiful sallow skin,” Ms Scannell told Limerick 95FM. “She was always smiling, always laughing.

“I remember [a friend] said to me shortly after she died that the one thing that always sticks in his head is her laughter. It was real giddy silly laughter.”

Ms Scannell met Lawlor O’Donovan before his sentencing hearing at Cork Circuit Court last month. “It was a tragic accident, he held up his hands, pleaded guilty, and I’ve forgiven him,” she said.

“We’ve spoken and we’ve moved on. To know that he was remorseful and that it hurt him as much as it hurt me meant a lot to us.

“For a long time I did want to meet him, it was in my mind, and I did want to know that he wasn’t a yobbo, and that he did have remorse.

“I’m so happy I did. I think it was [therapeutic] for me, and I think it was for him too. He was only 17, he’s 18 now. Seeing the remorse in his eyes, he was genuinely crushed, this not only ruined and destroyed our family, it did for his [family] too.

“We had a bit of a hug and I gave him one of Zoe’s loom bands, and I think there was a little bit of a connection there between the two of us, and that we know what each other is going through.

“Hopefully we’ll make contact again in the future.”

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