‘Our nightmare that will never end’ - family of crash victim

When Andrea Murphy sat in her brother Cormac’s chair at the kitchen table to write a victim impact statement to describe the loss her family have felt since he died almost three-and-a-half years ago, she found it hard to put her pen down because “there’s so much more to say”.

Cormac ‘Murph’ Murphy (20) died having spent several days in a coma following injuries sustained in a serious car crash on the Claddagh Road at Rantavan in the early hours of May 14, 2017.

The wrenching four-page statement, written by a heartbroken Andrea, now 18, but just 15 years at the time of her big brother’s death, was read out at Cavan Circuit Court last Friday.

Without dropping pace, or tone, Sergeant Barry Crudden carefully relayed the contents of the statement to Judge John Aylmer at the hearing of evidence against Pete Rogers (21).

In March this year Rogers, of Ballinaclieve, Moynalty, Kells, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of Mr Murphy from Cloughbally Upper, Mullagh.

Rogers was the driver of the Volkswagen Passat that left the road that fateful morning. Only he and the front-seat passenger were wearing seat belts, and there were four others including Mr Murphy sitting in the rear of the vehicle.

All were aged between 18-22 years at the time and had been out socialising the night before.

Rogers appeared before the Cavan Circuit sittings last week for the hearing of evidence in the case.

Andrea’s victim impact statement also took into account the sense of loss suffered by her parents, Bernie and Fergus.

“He was the life and soul of our family and, without him, it feels like someone took away the heart of this family,” she wrote.

“Cormac was full of fun, devilment, and laughter - a good character, he never failed to entertain a room. There wasn’t enough hours in the day for him. He always had so much to do. For someone whose life was cut so short he had achieved so much,” said his adoring little sister.

Those achievements started with Cormac’s first part-time job, at the tender age of only 14 years. Through endeavour and hard work, Cormac bought his own tractor, quad, car and van.

At age 20 he had obtained his artic truck licence. “He had his very own brand new lorry ordered and he was ready to hit the road. He told Fergus, his dad, ‘you may hang up them boots I’ll be taking over now dad’. You name it, Cormac had it. Everything he achieved he worked for.”

Andrea sat at the rear of the court with her parents. Mum Bernie held a framed photograph of Cormac. They were emotional throughout the reading of the statement.

In it, Andrea recalled with love how Cormac would arrive home from school, throw the school bag in the corner of the room. “The two most important questions of the day were ‘have you the fire lit?’ and ‘is the dinner on?’.”

But then the “dreaded” phonecall came that would change everything - “the start of our nightmare that will never end”.

“It was a normal Saturday,” remembered Andrea. Cormac and his cousin Mark O’Brien, also a passenger in the accident just hours later, were working away alongside Fergus. They were giddy with excitement and could not wait to head to the town.

“Cormac lived for the weekend, a bit of craic and to catch up with the lads. Whatever else it was about, our Murph, he had friends everywhere. You could find him from Donegal to Sligo and home, but on that Saturday night he never made it home.”

Cormac, Andrea wrote, suffered severe head injuries and numerous broken bones as a result of the horrific crash, which also left others in the car with life-changing injuries.

“Cormac was on a life support machine for five days and fought so hard to try and be here today. We can only imagine how scared he felt to leave his family, friends, and all his hopes and dreams behind.

“Cormac loved life and was very proud of his achievements and we are very proud of him. Just like that it was all ruined for him and for us. We had to sit and watch the life being drained from Cormac whom we love so much.”

Andrea sat in Cormac’s chair at the kitchen table to write the victim impact statement. She did so wanting to “make him proud”.

“No matter what we do or say we will never see Cormac come through the door again. We have all been robbed of Cormac’s future, his wife, his children, and above all of Cormac. The last three and a half years have been unbelievable for us and, trust us, this is the last place we want to be today.”

It’s the “simple things” the Murphy family miss most following Cormac’s tragic death. His “cheeky smile” and hearing the music before you would see him. “Cormac was full of kindness and good nature. Every night going to bed he would wrap Oscar the dog in a blanket so he wouldn’t be cold. He was never embarrassed to tell us he loved us.”

Andrea wrote that she and Cormac were best friends, not just brother and sister. He was someone she looked up to and he “never” let her down.

“He included me with all his friends and looked out for me in every way. One of my memories I treasure is when Cormac would come home from a night out and plough into my room if I was asleep or not to tell me all the craic and gossip and then fall asleep in my bed. He taught me from riding a bike to driving a lorry.”

Andrea notes that her mum Bernie considered Cormac to be her “everything”.

“From the day he came into this world, I nursed him, protected him, and helped him to become the man he is today. As his parents we couldn’t ask for a better son. He is our world,” she said.

Andrea’s statement concluded: “If Cormac was your friend, you would know how lucky you were. Ask Mark [O’Brien] what it’s like to lose your best friend from childhood. You would never see one without the other.

“It’s very hard to end this because there is so much more to say. We love you Cormac and your boots are at the door where you left them.”

This morning - Rogers was sentenced to 240 hours of community service in lieu of 12 months in prison and banned from driving for eight years.

To read the report from the sentencing hearing, click here: