Hit-and-run teen is disgusted by suspects
Roisin Walker denies that she is a hero for her actions in trying to save her friend
The 14-year-old victim of a gangland related hit-and-run denies that she is a hero, and is disgusted by the actions of the attempted murder suspects.
Roisin Walker, who is recovering well from surgery following the incident on Saturday, March 24, that left her with a broken neck, remembers little after the impact of the car, which then reversed over her.
Once she was up and walking after surgery. police told her she shoved a friend out of the way moments before the car hit her plus her close pal, 14, a girl of 12 and two boys aged 12 and 13.
Her mum Trisha McGonigal said: “They said, ‘Your wee lassie is a hero.’”
Roisin sees things differently: “I’m glad my friend didn’t get hit because she’s smaller than me — she might not have got through it.”
She has gone into town that day to buy sunglasses that day of the incident and her recollection after coming to is hazy.
She said: “I was so confused. I had a sore neck and arm and my knee was bleeding.
“Two shopworkers helped me on to a crate and stopped me moving. The worker said I’d been hit by a car and it had driven away.
“I was telling everyone not to call my mum because I didn’t want her to worry.”
Roisin, a student at St Margaret Mary’s Secondary, was put in a neck brace before being taken by ambulance to hospital. Initially she was more concerned about the paramedics cutting off her clothes than her injuries from the incident on Castlemilk’s Stravanan Road.
X-rays revealed the teen “probably” had a broken neck.
Trisha said: “I didn’t want her freaked out, so I asked them to say probably.”
Roisin was placed in a body mould to make her completely immobile for her journey to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
Doctors decided the best way to operate on her was to go in below her Adam’s apple, Two days after the surgery, she was able to raise her head and on Easter Sunday, she was able to walk again after a week of being immobile and is eating liquids such as soup.
The driver of the Silver Vauxhall Astra and his passenger are still at large.
Roisin called the driver responsible “disgusting” as police continue their hunt for him and a passenger.
She said: “It was selfish they’d rather make sure they were OK than kids they had knocked down.
“Running away made it worse for themselves — though maybe they shouldn’t try to run folk down in the first place.
“However, I realise it could have been so much worse.”
Police are treating the incident as attempted murder. The car was later found burnt out in Carmunock.
Billy Dearie, believed to be the intended target of the hitand-run, was clipped by the car as he crossed the road.
Anyone with information should contact CID officers at Cathcart Police Station via 101, quoting reference number 2777 of March 24. Alternatively, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where information can be given anonymously.
A gofundme page called justice for roisin has so far raised more than £1000.