'I hope he suffers after his days are done,' says father of boy, 8, killed by dangerous driver in Cork

Filipa and Cesar Ladeiro, parents of André, who died at Cork Rd, Carrigaline, Cork, in August 2023. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The father of an eight-year-old boy killed by a dangerous driver in Cork has said that he hopes the convicted man "suffers after his days are done".

Cesar Ladeiro's son André Castro Ladeiro died at Cork Rd, Carrigaline, Co Cork, on August 12, 2023.

This week, judge Dermot Sheehan jailed John Moynihan of Macroom, Co Cork, for three years with the last year suspended.

He was also disqualified from driving for six years.

Describing what happened, Mr Ladeiro said that he had just been starting to cross the road with his other son, Tomas, in a trailer behind him on his bike.

He explained: "I was just starting to cross, it OK. So I look back, because of the traffic, the traffic light gets red for the cars, and I'm seeing the traffic light, OK, because I'm behind — Andre is in front of me, facing the signal or facing the crossing, and I'm behind him.

"I stayed behind him, because the track there is not wide enough for us to be like the two bikes.

"I have the trailer connected to my bike, where Tomas was, I was starting to cross. So I never saw it coming. I never hear it coming. There was no sounds, no marks, nothing.

"[André] was breathing, so I had hope."

After his death, André's organs were donated — with Mr Ladeiro explaining that he had received a keyring from the Cork summer show in 2022 and wanted to donate his organs himself once he learned what it was about.

Mr Ladeiro and his wife Filipa, who is a nurse, were not required to attend court for every session of Moynihan's hearing.

André Ladeiro had wanted to donate his organs after learning about the process.

But he said that the process did not fully take into account the trauma other victims suffer from incidents such as André's.

He told RTÉ's  Liveline: "I said in court the other victims are still here, and they are not taking in account during all this process. 

"OK, we were asked if we wanted to do a victim impact statement, that we did, both myself and my wife to honor André. 

"But all this process doesn't take into account these other victims that physically, we don't have anything from that accident."

When asked if Moynihan ever apologised, Mr Ladeiro said: "To us directly? Never. Towards our solicitors? Never.

"There was no explanation given. And I think that anyone, [was of] the perfect conscience of what he was doing when driving, even if you didn't see anything, if you hear the loudest bang in front of you — just press the brakes. Emergency brake. 

"They teach you when you take your licence. And did that happen? No, could that have a different result? We don't know. 

"No, it didn't happen anytime. So as I said in court, for him my son was only a leaf, and probably he just stopped because his tyre got deflated. I'm not sure. I never heard his voice."

Moynihan was faced with faced a maximum sentence of 10 years for the incident.

However, he only received a three-year sentence with the last year suspended.

Mr Ladeiro said: "That's the right phrase that you can get prison sentence of 'up to' 10 years. These two key words — 'up to'. So you can drive dangerously, kill, and you can have 'up to.' 

"It's not from. It's 'up to'. So in the end, the judge did what was in the law, and according to his judgment, and according to the law. 

John Moynihan, Kilnamartyra, Macroom, Co Cork, was faced with a maximum sentence of 10 years, but he will serve two years.  Picture: Dan Linehan

"So I cannot say anything else for André's case. 

"No, OK, so the value of my child, for the state of Ireland in this case, OK that he was killed by dangerous driving, is a two-year sentence.

"I hope that if he [Moynihan] has any religion that he continues to suffer after his days are done."

Mr Ladeiro said that he and his family still have to cross the section of the road where André was hit.

"Any simple thing that we see on the road that is against the rules like this just make us mad. You cannot imagine how we boiled from inside seeing someone not stopping in a red light.

"The problem is not only there, it is a reminder of everything else. Garda cannot be everywhere, it is not their duty to be everywhere. We are in the 21st century.

"Enforcement needs to happen, somehow. For us, my son — Tomas, when he sees someone crossing with a traffic lights, he just gets 'that man is being bad crossing on a red light' — he will know that his brother crossed on the green man and he had the result that he had."

When asked if he was still religious, Mr Ladeiro said: "I lost my religion on that day. I was religious and André had a religious funeral. But that was the last day I entered the church.

"Different people will consider this different. My sister prays for him, she feels his presence. She knows now the angel that will guide her somehow and her family. You have to learn to love to grieve. That is what we have been doing."