The mother of a man who was killed by a drunk driver has said she never wants to hear from her son’s killer.
Christina Donnelly was left heartbroken after her son Brendan was killed 12 years ago in the car he and three others were travelling in was struck by drunk driver Anthony Long in October 2009.
The 24-year-old and his friend Lee Salkeld died during the collision which happened as the group were headed to Cork Airport for an early-morning flight to Amsterdam.
The driver of the other car who was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, father-of-two Anthony Long, was jailed for five years but served just three years and five months.
Ms Donnelly said she was left devastated when she was told Anthony had written a letter to her during the court – which she has never opened.
“I was told then that he had written a letter to myself and to the family and did I want it and I just looked him straight in the face and said I want nothing from Anthony Long. I’m carrying a sock belonging to my son, I’ve got his t-shirt under my pillow. I still have Brendan’s sock in my car to this day.
“I ring his phone every day and all I hear is ‘this is Brendan, leave a message’ and I’m leaving messages to my son who can’t ring me back. Every single day I ring his phone just to hear his voice.
“I wanted nothing from Anthony Long. He had taken too much from me, so pieces of paper meant absolutely nothing.
She said pictures of Long emerging from prison and adapting to life were tough to look at.
“The sentence for Anthony Long was five years. He served three years and five months. He was also out on three to four months weekend leave so he could adapt to family life.
“And when I actually saw him by pure chance when he would’ve been on weekend leave, this is the driver that was so drunk and killed two young men – my son being one of them -holding up this great big fishing coat and fishing rod, smiling. It was very hard to take in considering what had happened.”
In 2010, Cork Circuit Criminal Court was told Long had been drinking since 3pm the previous day before he attended a pub fancy-dress party.
At the party he consumed 11 cans and bottles of beer, seven pints of beer, two vodkas, three shots of After Shock and a line of cocaine before attempting to drive home after a row with his wife.
He drove his Ford Mondeo head-on into the Volkswagen Polo carrying Mr Donnelly, Mr Salkeld and their partners, Laura Connolly and Kate Flynn, on the main Waterford-Cork road.
Long, of Leadington, Leamlara, Co Cork, left the scene of the accident, leaving the two men dying in their car.
He walked for seven miles along a back road towards his home before being found by gardaí.
Opening up about the sentence, Brendan’s grieving mum has called for tougher sentencing to be introduced.
“I firmly believe, it’s my new fight but with regards to sentencing in this country when there is either a fatality or fatalities or serious injury, a life threatening injury, is that the sentencing in this country is still in the draconian era and it needs to be addressed urgently. If you’re given five years, you serve five years
"If you’re given eight years, you serve eight years. Then when you come out you need to do mandatory testing, sign on at a garda station with regards to alcohol and a drug problem, go into rehab or do a facility day centre for about three months. Show that you are willing to try and make some sort of contribution to society again.
“The sentencing in this country needs to be seriously addressed.”
She added lenient sentences are an insult to families.
“I think sentencing is an absolute insult to the families and to the victims in this country and it needs to be addressed urgently,” she said.
Ms Donnelly was speaking ahead of the launch of Virgin Media's new show Crash Scene Investigations, which airs on Tuesday at 9pm.
The four-part series tells the real-life stories of Irish car crashes, how they happened and the long-term impact they caused.
She is among the members of bereaved families taking part in the programme and sharing their stories, while crash survivors, first responders and gardai will also speak of their experiences of dealing with collisions on Irish roads.
The first episode will feature the horror crash which took the lives of Brendan Donnelly and Lee Salkeld in Cork in 2009.
Crash Scene Investigates will speak to the two survivors of the crash, as well as several who attended the scene.
Brendan "didn't have a mean bone in his body" and "when he had a friend, he had a friend", Ms Donnelly said.
She added that he "would do anything to help anybody" and was "a brilliant young man" before he lost his life on that fateful night.
She is taking part in the series to give a voice to her son and to other families who have lost loved ones in crashes across the country.
However, she also wants to highlight the need for Ireland's sentencing laws to be reformed when it comes to people convicted of driving offences.
Also taking part in the series is Grainne Kealy who at the age of 22 suffered life-changing injuries following a crash in 2007.
She was travelling in a Jeep with her boyfriend at the time when the vehicle skidded on some black ice and smashed into a wall in Co Laois.
Ms Kealy said that while the crash wasn't particularly bad, with the driver escaping with just a few cuts and bruises, she suffered catastrophic injuries because of how she was sitting in the passenger seat.
As she had her feet up on the dashboard, when the airbag detonated after the car hit the wall at 120mph, her knees then slammed into her head.
She broke every bone in her face and also had a cerebrospinal fluid leak from her brain which required surgery.
She also lost her forehead, and it wasn't until two years later that it was replaced by a custom-made Italian ceramic 'new forehead'.
By taking part in Crash Scene Investigates, she hopes to highlight the danger of people sitting with their feet on the dashboard and for passengers and drivers alike to act responsibly on the roads.
"I've seen it in movies, in TV shows and nobody's to blame, I didn't know but it's scary to think how many people are still [putting their feet on the dash]," she said.
"[If I get through to] one person I'll be happy, any more than that is a bonus, to save anyone from what I've gone through would be great.
"But it's a lot more than that, we really need to take responsibility when we're in a car, front passengers, back passengers.
"You sit into a car and you put on your seatbelt and you think you're safe, and it's just not enough."
- Crash Scene Investigations airs on Virgin Media One from Tuesday, January 18 at 9pm.
