Daughter sues parents after car accident

A young girl who survived a fatal car crash in Longford is suing her father who owned the BMW and her mother who was subsequently jailed for dangerous driving.

The court has heard 12-year-old Faith Carberry was critically injured when the car hit an embankment in Edgeworthstown in July 2007 claiming the lives of her sister Ava and a friend, nine-year-old Michaela Logan.

She is also suing the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland.

Her mother, Mary Carberry, a chronic alcoholic living in Kilcock, Co Kildare – was subsequently jailed for four years for dangerous driving having got into the BMW after drinking and while banned from the roads.

Her father Tommy Varden owned the car.

Mr Varden told the court the mother of his two daughters phoned and told him: "Ava is dead and I think Faith is dead too."

Mr Varden, a succesful businessman, said she lay beside their dead daughter in the mortuary at Mullingar Hospital and told told him she would shoot herself if she had a gun to which he retorted: "If I'd a gun I'd do it for you".

Their then eight-year-old daugher Faith has survived the tragic accident, but is now suing both her parents for damages through her grandfather.

Tommy Varden admits being the owner of the BMW, but denies giving consent to Mary Carberry to drive the car.