This article is from page 8 of the 2008-10-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THERE were no winners and for the family of the young girl and the driver of the car, the pain will never go away.
A drive to Ennis for Sharon Shana- han was brought to a sudden halt, af- ter her car struck a 10-year-old girl, who had been crossing the road.
While Ms Shanahan, a special needs assistant in a north Clare school, was cleared of a charge in connection
with the accident, the tragic crash has undoubtedly changed her life.
She cannot explain how the accident occurred, but is acutely aware that what happened that fateful evening led to a little girl receiving horrific injuries. The girl’s family are forced to contend with her injuries. The lit- tle girl left her home that evening to go to her friend’s house to collect a mobile phone, but tragically ended up in hospital.
It is every parent’s worst nightmare.
The girl’s distraught mother heard details of the accident in court last week, where the extent of her injuries were revealed.
The girl was unable to be in court, but her friends were there to tell what happened. She had been crossing the road and waved to two of her friends, when she was struck. They watched in shock and called for help as the little girl was propelled into the air before landing behind the car.
Rarely do children of that tender
age give evidence in a court case and their evidence was compelling. Both the little boy and girl – friends of the girl at the centre of the case – put their emotions to one side as they recalled the evening of the accident.
Both witnesses were categoric in their evidence and recalled it as they had remembered. Their honesty stood out as neither was overawed by the occasion. Prior to taking the oath, the little girl was asked if she understood the consequences of not
telling the truth. She explained that she did; that failing to tell the truth in the witness box with result in her get- ting into “big trouble.” She, and the boy, confidently described in court their recollections of the accident; both unfazed by the occasion in the courtroom.
Like the little girl’s family and the driver of the car, these two children were also deeply affected by the ac- cident. A stark reminder of the trau- matic effects of road accidents.