Were enforced, our would still be alive
Karl Robertson was killed in a hit and run by a banned driver, who was sentenced to just five years. Now his devastated loved ones want action to ensure no other family suffers the same heartbreak
we’ll keep going for Karl. We feel he has almost been forgotten in the case, we don’t want him to be just another statistic.’
Niamh and Aisling talk about the many changes they feel need to be made to stop deaths like Karl’s.
‘Firstly, it shouldn’t be possible to have multiple driving bans,’ says Aisling. ‘It should be one ban and if you breach it, jail. Don’t tell me prisons are already over-crowded, that’s not a good enough answer.
‘In court, Karl’s killer was given a fourth driving ban but the judge commented that bans didn’t seem to make any difference to him. So what’s the point in handing them out over and over? When he gets out of jail will he get behind the wheel and end up with a fifth, sixth, seventh ban? Where will it end?
‘He probably got into the van that night and thought, “what’s the worst that can happen if I get caught, just another ban?” If a rogue driver’s only deterrent is a ban which won’t be enforced anyway, that’s no deterrent at all.’
Next, Karl’s family believe it shouldn’t be possible for a person to be able to buy a vehicle while disqualified from driving. ‘You can go online and check the history of a car via the log book,’ says Niamh. ‘So why isn’t it possible to also check the history of a buyer and that status of their licence? We want to see an online database where all relevant information can be checked in one place.’
The RSA has plans to name banned motorists in an online database but that plan has reportedly been delayed due to concerns over data protection and disagreement over the efficacy of naming and shaming disqualified drivers. ‘Where is this RSA plan?’ asks Aisling. ‘What’s the timeline on it?
‘There needs to be an onus on everyone. If someone sells a car privately they should be able to check a buyer’s licence status. If they don’t do that check, there should be repercussions for them. If someone loans a car to a banned driver, there should be repercussions for them also. We can’t guarantee that a banned driver won’t borrow or steal a car but there are simple steps that can be taken to stop a lot of the deaths caused by disqualified motorists.’
They want to see heavier, more consistent sentencing for hit-andrun drivers. ‘Shortly after Karl’s case, the same judge, Martin Nolan, handed down a nine-year sentence to Joseph Rafferty, a driver who went on a cocainefuelled rampage in 2017. What Rafferty did was horrendous but he didn’t kill anyone. How can killing someone in a hit-and-run merit a shorter sentence than his?’
Crucially, Aisling and Niamh want to see more road forensic collision investigators being recruited. ‘The cause of the delay in arresting Karl’s killer was that there aren’t enough of these investigators, who must attend and investigate every kind of road crash. That needs to be addressed.’
Road forensic collision investigators did a great job in Karl’s case, says Aisling. ‘The driver claimed Karl had stepped out from behind a car and he didn’t see him but that was proven wrong. Karl was hit on a speed ramp as he crossed the road. There were no skid marks, the driver never stopped.
‘But there are questions that will never be answered for us. Karl’s killer didn’t hand himself in for 24 hours so we’ll never know if he was driving under the influence of drink or drugs that night.’
The first steps in Niamh and Aisling’s campaign are a petition for change, lobbying politicians and setting up a Facebook page called ‘Karl’s Story’ which will honour his memory and provide a space for grieving families who have suffered the same tragedy.
‘We had so many messages from people who wrote “my brother... my mother... my father... my cousin” all killed by hit-and-run or drink drivers, so many heartbroken families who got little or no justice in court and who want to help bring about change.
‘There are also hundreds of Irish families awaiting court cases, with no idea of what lies ahead for them. We want to help those families and we want to prevent more families having to sit in court being told their loved one’s life is worth a fiveyear prison sentence.’
Ironically, 2017 was reportedly the safest year on record for Irish roads with 158 deaths recorded, but that’s no comfort to Karl’s family. Cruelly, his grandmother — who lived with the family — passed away just six weeks before him.
‘We were only just beginning to grieve for our grandmother, I don’t think my father has even had the chance yet to start grieving for his mother,’ says Niamh. ‘My mother Cathy is a totally different person now. She was working full-time and going to the gym up until Karl’s death. Now she has stopped working. She tries hard to put a brave face on, to keep it together but she can’t talk about Karl yet. My dad Tony is out in the garden all the time, he likes to keep busy.
‘I’m so glad they have Blu, our dog. Karl loved him. He’s a comfort for my mam. Blu stood crying in front of a photograph of Karl, he knew he was gone.
‘My mam brought Blu to Karl’s grave. It’s good that she has to get out of bed in the morning to let Blu out but that’s not how life should be lived.
‘It’s difficult to talk to my mam and dad about Karl. It’s a very different experience for them than it is for me or Aisling. Karl was their child. I try to stay strong but there have been times when I’ve gone out to the car to cry.
‘Karl was someone who always helped others. The idea that someone so heartless could leave him alone on a road is just unimaginable. Our lives have been turned upside down. Our faith has been affected. We didn’t have a yearly mass in memory of Karl because we don’t want to go into a church. We don’t see how a God could exist that allows this to happen.
‘But we have had amazing support from family and from amazing strangers which has restored our faith in humanity.’
‘It shouldn’t be possible to have multiple bans’ ‘My mother tries hard to put a brave face on’