Gardaí in vigil for colleague mown down by car

Dozens of gardaí gathered at a bedside vigil today for their young colleague who was left fighting for life after being mown down by suspected car thieves.

Mayo-born Robbie McCallion remains in a coma after he was crushed against a wall trying to block the path of a car in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy joined a large number of gardaí who travelled from Donegal to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin to support the popular 29-year-old’s family.

Earlier today, two teenagers were charged at Glenties District Court in connection with the incident.

A 17-year old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury and theft of a car.

Cathal Dunleavy, 19, of Meentagh, Glenvar, Kerrykeel, in Co Donegal, was also charged with stealing a car as well as travelling in a stolen car.

Judge Conal Gibbons remanded both in custody until April 2.

Garda McCallion underwent emergency surgery last night to stem bleeding in his brain and remains sedated on a life support machine in Beaumont Hospital’s intensive care unit.

His condition remains critical but stable, said a hospital spokeswoman.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin Eibhlin Byrne also visited the hospital to lend her support to the devastated McCallion family.

“The sadness in his father’s eyes is still with me,” she said, after speaking with Robbie’s father Bob, a retired garda, from Swinford, Co Mayo.

“It’s heartbreaking. As he said to me: ’All for a car, a battered old car’.

“I’m a parent myself and I can only imagine what it is like to see your son in that kind of condition and know there is nothing you can do to help him, and that he was simply a young man doing his job.

“The only thing we can do is keep him in our prayers and hope for a miracle.”

As many as 30 Garda members from Donegal, where Gda McCallion has been based since he graduated from Templemore in 2003, travelled to be at his bedside.

They have joined a large family circle, including father Bob and mother Nancy, relatives and friends.