Searing speech - Drunk driver case

THE hearts of parents everywhere will go out to the family of four-year-old Ciaran Treacy, who died after a drunk driver collided with their car and ruined their lives for ever.

So powerful was the grief of his mother’s victim impact statement that Judge Keenan Johnson told the Circuit Court in Portlaoise that it should be compulsory reading for anyone convicted of drunken driving or those even thinking about it.

Describing their reaction to the fatal crash which occurred on April 17, 2014, Gillian said the drunk driver had shattered and devastated her family. She told the court: “I fought for my life thinking the car was going to burst up in flames at any moment, while trying to comfort both Sean and Ciaran. They were crying and screaming with shock and pain. All of a sudden Ciaran became silent. It was a silence I had never experienced before and as a mother I knew was not right.”