Student hit by bus gets €9m award

SPANISH BOY WAS INJURED IN BRAY

A SPANISH student who was hit by a bus in Bray five years ago has settled his High Court action for €9 million.

Carlos Tesch, from Madrid, was 12 years old at the time of the accident which on Herbert Road in February 2009.

Carlos was learning English in Bray. He suffered severe head injuries and cannot fully walk or speak.

His father Hans Peter Tesch sued Dublin Bus on his behalf and they were found to be 70 per cent liable.

Ms. Justice Mary Irvine approved the settlement last week.

The court previously heard the schoolboy moved on to the road because he was fearful when he and his friends saw a group of older Irish boys who, it was alleged, had been involved in a confrontation with the younger Spanish boys before. He ran in to the road to get away from them.

The students were a short distance up Herbert Road and had reached a lamp post when Carlos suddenly ran across the road and the bus, which was com- ing behind him, hit him. He suffered severe head injuries rendering him unable to walk or talk and requiring life-long care.

Yesterday, Dermot Gleeson SC said his parents, Hans and Mar Tesch, had done everything to make their son's life better and the accident had transformed all their lives.

Carlos has been taken to China for stem cell treatment on two occasions. His father has taken time off work to care for him.

Previously in the Supreme Court, Ms. Justice Elizabeth Dunne had said the evidence was that the bus was travelling at 40kmh in a 50kmh zone and the driver was ‘a very careful and safe driver.

Unfortunately, he was distracted by a conversation with a passenger in the seconds leading up to this tragic accident, she said.

Once Carlos stepped off the footpath, the bus driver reacted immediately and with ‘commendable alertness’ and did what he could to stop the bus, she said.