'You left him there to die': Fiancée of hit-and-run victim appeals for driver to come forward

The late Thiago Cortes died yesterday after he was hit by a car on Monday night.

The fiancée of the Deliveroo cyclist Thiago Cortes who died following a hit-and-run accident in Dublin has told of how she found out he had been involved in an accident when a garda answered his phone.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast and RTÉ radio's Today with Claire Byrne show, Teresa Dantas called for those responsible to come forward as she did not want what happened to Thiago to happen to anyone else in the future.

Ms Dantas said that she knew something was wrong on Monday night when her fiancé had not returned home at his usual time of between 11pm and 11.30pm, she thought he might still be delivering or that the battery in his phone had gone.

At midnight she received a message saying that a Deliveroo driver had been involved in an accident.

“At that moment I felt it might be him. I tried to call him several times, but there was no answer.

"Then a guard answered his phone and said that he was in the hospital and he told me to go there,” she told the Today with Claire Byrne show.

When she spoke with the garda she thought that perhaps he had a broken leg or a broken arm, “something not that bad.” 

But when the garda told her “don't worry your fiancé is alive” she thought his injuries must be very serious.

“I went to the hospital, I was with my flatmate - one of Thiago's best, best friends - we got there, they let us in.

 

"The sergeant that answered the phone came to talk to me, saying that he was in an accident, it was a hit-and-run and that I'll be able to see him, that he was alive.

“We had over 24 hours to stay with him since the time that I found out about the accident and the time he died,” she said.

Her fiancé had persuaded her to come to Ireland two-and-a-half years ago as he thought they would have a better life.

“And we did have that here.” 

The couple had been together for six years when he proposed on her birthday in March.

They had not yet set a date, but had been planning a civil service in Ireland at the end of the year with a church wedding and big party at a later stage, she explained.

"He was always really sweet and loving and caring with me."

Earlier on Newstalk Breakfast Ms Dantas said that Thiago had been working for the delivery company for only 10 days.

Ms Dantas appealed to the driver of the car that hit Thiago to come forward.

Huge event in Dublin today for Thiago Cortes, the delivery cyclist killed by a hit and run driver in the city on Monday night. Today's event doubled as a vigil for the Brazilian man and a protest as his killing remains unsolved pic.twitter.com/WnTr7bBNPx

— StickyBottle.com 💚 🚲 (@sticky_bottle) September 2, 2020

"If you did it, please come forward. Be brave and do this.

"You were driving a car, you hit someone and you left him there to die.

"Just please say what you did. Come forward."

Ms Dantas also issued an appeal to anyone who might have information about the hit-and-run.

“Please come forward. If you know something tell the gardaí. We need to know something.

“Unfortunately it happened, but it could happen again. I don't want it to happen to anyone in the future.

These people have to answer for what they did.

Gardaí believe the car involved was being driven by a teenager.

Speaking about the vigil held for Thiago in Dublin city centre yesterday, Teresa said: "It was amazing to see how many people were there. A lot of people didn't know him and we were all touched.

"It could happen have happened to any one of them or any of us. 

"Unfortunately, it was him but I was really, really happy to see the amount love and support since the accident from the Brazilian community, from Irish people.

"It is amazing to see how much love is around."

Additional reporting by Digital Desk