This article is from page 4 of the 2006-10-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
STACEY Haugh was just 16 when she and her younger brother Karl left their family home and walked to the local chip shop in Kilkee on an October evening, three years ago. There they met their friend Lorna Mahoney (13) for what would, sadly, be their final evening together.
Ennis Circuit Court heard that Stacey’s mother Brigid’s “whole world came to an end,” when she got the dreadful phone call on the night of October 17, 2003.
She went to the scene of the crash. Stacey had died and Karl (now 14) had sustained critical injuries.
“I could not bring myself to go to the mortuary as I felt Karl was going to die too. I was in a state of shock,” were Brigid’s words, contained in her Victim Impact Statement.
Brigid was torn between burying her “beautiful, vibrant” daughter or travelling to Dublin to visit her son, who underwent emergency surgery.
The heartbroken mother remembered her daughter as a teenage girl who loved music, dressing up, cooking and walking.
Brigid has struggled with her life since the tragic accident and she has been left facing a life sentence. “Life has been a struggle since,” she said.
Lorna’s mother Geraldine Mahoney told the court her daughter was a “bright, bubbly, Mammy’s girl, the youngest of five.”
Lorna was “in love with life” and aspired to become a vet.
“Bye Mum. I love you,” were her final words to her mother at 7.30pm that evening. Two hours later, she was dead.
“No doubt Mr Naughton coerced Lorna and Stacey into that car.
“The fear Lorna felt in that car will haunt us for the rest of our lives,” she said,
Mrs Mahoney then addressed Naughton. “Lorna and Stacey asked you to slow down but you chose to ignore them. Why?” she asked.
“What puzzled us was that the accused was granted bail for the second time after absconding the first time. We felt abandoned by the legal system,” she added.
“We have gone from a close knit family to a group of individuals struggling with our grief. We live with the memories because that is all we have left,” she said.
The court heard that the parents of the two girls disputed suggestions that the accused had been going out with Stacey, while his friend had been going out with Lorna.