Found with head injuries outside family home

Derry a year ago, he had no nerves. He came to a new country to his grandad’s home and he approached all of that with all his energy.

“He went to his new school St Eugene’s and soon made friends.

“Now I wonder did he get all that into his life because it was going to be over so soon. I’m just trying to make sense of this but I can’t.”

Donny’s best pal at school was Josh – they were an inseparable pair full of fun and giggles.

But at home his best friend was his eight-year-old sister Saoirse and the siblings spent most of their playtime together. The schoolgirl and their older brother Kealan, 11, have been left devastated by the tragedy.

Sarah added: “They were three and they were very close, but now they are two.

“The very light has gone out of our world. Donny had such a big personality, always happy and smiling, always up to some mischief.

“We have a hole in our lives that will never be filled.”

Sarah said it remained unclear how her son had been hit on the road and that the police probe may help discover how it happened.

But she added: “It doesn’t matter what the investigation shows, it cannot give me what I want. It cannot bring Donny back to us.

AWFUL

“Whatever happened was an accident, an awful accident.

“No one leaves their home in the morning to go about their day’s business with the intention of hurting a child.

“My heart is broken but there is no room in my heart for hate for the person involved in this. They must feel so terrible and like us, they will have to live with what happened for the rest of their life too.”

The family moved to Derry so they would be close to Sarah’s father Eugene who lives in the city.

They had spent the previous years living in Holland and meeting up with relatives from Fife, Scotland – Sarah’s mother’s home.

Now friends and family are making their way to Derry to help the family as they try to come to terms with the loss of their precious Donny.

Sarah said: “He was such a lovely little boy. He was our smiler, our laugher, our adventurer and our love.

“That’s how I will always hold him in my heart and I hope people who knew Donny will concentrate on that, not on the tragedy that happened. We will have to find a way to live in a world without Donny.

“I can’t imagine it but he has given us so many incredible moments, laughs and amazing memories that will are filled with his love – and we’ll have to take that with us now that he is not here to do it for himself.”

The PSNI is investigating the fatal incident and are seeking witnesses.

Inspector O’brien said: “I would ask anyone who was on Tyrconnell Street on Tuesday morning between 10am and 10.30am to get in touch with officers in Strand Road or the Collision Investigation Unit by calling 101.”

A man who had been helping the PSNI with their enquiries has been released on police bail.