VICTIM OF A RACE BETWEEN TWO EGOS
As grieving parents mark anniversary of daughter’s death, they appeal for others to try to prevent another crash
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HE heartbroken parents of a “beautiful and promising” teenager killed in a crash caused by two boy racers are pleading with people to have a conversation with their children to prevent others from suffering their unimaginable pain.
Speaking from their family home, Jo and Mesut Alkir said they wanted to mark the first anniversary of their daughter Olivia’s death by making youngsters realise the deadly consequences of their actions behind the wheel.
The couple from Efenechtyd near Ruthin are also campaigning for a change in the law that would see all new drivers only allowed to carry one passenger for 12 months and their cars fitted with a black box to restrict speed. It comes after 17-year-old Olivia died instantly and four others left with life-changing injuries after a head-on crash on the B5105 between Clawddnewydd and Ruthin on June 27 last year.
Thomas Henry Quick and Edward Ryan Bell, who were both 17 at the time, had been racing each other and “playing Russian roulette” with the lives of their passengers.
Their actions “ruined” Jo and Mesut’s lives forever and left them with grief so overwhelming they said all they can wish for is their own early deaths.
Both teenagers were jailed for five years for dangerous driving after it emerged that Bell – whose Fiesta Olivia was a rear-seat passenger in – had only passed his driving test the day before and was due to have a black box fitted the next morning.
Olivia’s family now want her legacy to be about educating others to prevent similar tragedies.
Jo said she had a “close relationship” with her only child and would often tell her: “Boys kill girls in cars every year, don’t be one of them.”
She had even embarrassed Olivia by demanding to see the manner of her male friends’ driving before allowing them to pick her up.
But on the fateful day, the group of teens decided to spend the day at Llyn Brenig in the sunshine.
Quick and Bell had been caught on dashcam racing each other in the hours before the crash, it emerged at their trial earlier this year.
Jo said: “On that day, we didn’t know where Olivia was going, she told me she was going for a walk.
“If I’d had a phone call to say ‘Mum, we’re all going to go to Llyn Brenig to swim in the reservoir,’ that would’ve been the first no.
“Then the thought of her going up that road with a boy who’d just passed his driving test, that would’ve been another no.
“But it was the start of their summer, it was a lovely day and they were ready to live their lives and enjoy themselves.
“They had made plans in good faith and trusting in their friends’ sense of honour and responsibility.”
Jo had been in Tesco buying supplies ready for a weekend at Morfa Nefyn with Olivia and her friends when she got the phone call every parent dreads. She recalled: “It was my neighbour and she just said: ‘Jo, you better be quick, there’s been an accident. It’s Olivia.’
“I got into my car and shot up there while I tried to phone Mesut.
“I turned into the road and basically entered hell, you can’t describe it any other way. There was a boy with blood all over him and I was screaming: ‘Is she dead? Is she dead?’
“I just ran and there she was lying at the side of the road and they were pumping her chest.
“I was shouting at her begging her to live – I was telling her all the good things we had planned, going to Morfa Nefyn and to Turkey.
“I told her: ‘I’m not living without you.’ I was using all the emotional blackmail I could to get her to respond.”
Shortly afterwards, the police asked people to move away so they could secure the scene and that’s when Jo realised Olivia was gone.
“You see it in films don’t you? The doctor came over and said: ‘We did everything we could.’
“We fastened her into the ambulance, kissed her goodbye and Mesut went with her to the hospital – I couldn’t breathe.”
Mesut said: “As I got into the village, I already knew she was dead. I had this feeling come to me and in my head I was planning the funeral.
“I felt like I was two people – one like a robot doing the job and the other like a father sad behind me.
“It was a strange feeling the aura that I knew she’d passed away.
“When I saw her, she didn’t have a single scratch on her body or face – she looked pure like an angel.”
The family had Olivia’s body cleaned in a Muslim ceremony before she was delicately wrapped in a shroud ready to be buried.
“I said goodbye to her then and when I came home, I felt at ease,” said Jo.
“For some reason, I felt this absolute calm, it was a beautiful ceremony. Having friends with me in the next room gave me great comfort.
“We had the strength from the whole community.”
Mesut, who is Turkish, added: “When people lose a child, they go crazy, suicidal or they do stupid things. How we didn’t do it I sometimes question myself but I believe it was protection from Olivia or God or Allah.”
Olivia’s coffin was carried from her home to the church by her friends.
A memorial bench has since been placed at her graveside with a plaque that reads: “Beloved Child of Our