Occasionally a tragedy leaps out and catches us cold, reminding us just how narrow the gap is between normality and catastrophe.
Ronan and Gillian Treacy found that gap closed irrevocably when a drunk driver slammed into Gillian, as she was driving home.
The couple lost their four-year-old son Ciaran.
Yesterday, somehow, the grieving mother found the strength to give a searing victim impact statement revealing the crater that had opened in the hearts of her family.
Judge Keenan Johnson said it should be compulsory reading for anyone considering drink driving.
She spoke of the agony of listening to her two little boys screaming, and of the cold terror that set in when an unnatural silence fell.
Mrs Treacy described how as she herself lay seriously injured in hospital, Ciaran’s lifeless body was brought to her and she tried to hold him.
The driver responsible for this terrible pain admitted drinking between eight and 10 pints on the day of the crash.
Coincidentally, Gillian has undergone 10 operations, and faces losing part of one of her legs, since the crash.
So far this year 127 people have died on our roads, leaving behind devastated families and endless regrets.
Source: Irish Independent, 28/10/15
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