Scumbag 'left me for dead'

A motorcyclist who lost his leg in an horrific Bank Holiday hit-and-run on the Cavan by-pass last year says he’s “a living reminder” of the devastation that drink drivers can cause.
“That guy isn’t going to change. His record speaks for itself. If he was out right now he could do it again. Maybe next time he might kill somebody. Judging by the witness reports, the way he was driving, it could’ve happened to anybody that day. It could’ve been a minibus carrying children he’d run off the road,” John Swift (45) from North Strand, Dublin, said despondently.
He made the comments to The Anglo-Celt after Charles McDonagh (25) of 10 Townspark, Cavan was sentenced to a total of nine years in prison in relation to the “worst case of dangerous driving” Judge John O’Hagan said he’d ever encountered.
Father-of-four McDonagh, who has 124 previous convictions, was furthermore banned from driving for life after causing serious bodily harm to Mr Swift, resulting in his leg having to be amputated through the knee. Mr Swift had been on his way to meet his partner, Kells-native Christina O’Reilly in Clones, Co Monaghan, for her birthday when the incident occurred at Killynebber shortly before 5pm on April 6, 2015. McDonagh drove his then damaged Mercedes Benz C180 for several kilometres more before attempting to conceal the car off-road and trying to escape.

Face-to-face
The sentencing hearing at Cavan Circuit Court last week was the first time that Mr Swift came face-to-face with McDonagh. “I just knew his name. When he first came in, I was livid. I looked right at him for a good few minutes.
I saw his eyes darting, looking at me, then looking away quickly. If I had been any nearer to him, the way I was feeling, I would’ve went for him. From where I was, it would’ve looked pathetic trying to get across the room at him so I just didn’t bother. He’s a scumbag, plain and simple.”

Left for dead
By way of victim impact statement Mr Swift had expressed his belief to the court that if it wasn’t for passing traffic that day and had the incident happened at night, he may have bled to death by the side of the road. “He left me for dead. I was thrown to the side of the road. If that’d happened at night, it would’ve been pure chance if anyone had come across me.
“He just happened to be driving by. The ambulance crew were on the scene and it took them a couple of times to properly apply the tourniquet. My trousers were getting all caught up in the wound. I knew my leg was in a bad way. When I stopped sliding down the road, I tried to stand up but I just collapsed and my leg fell back into my face,” says Mr Swift, who to date has had four operations on his leg and two in an attempt to mend his collar bone.
“I’ll be having a further two, possibly three surgeries on the stump to tidy up the wound site. This is because the prosthetic is aggravating the skin graft over the wound. These operations will put me back in the wheelchair, while the stump heals again.”

Devastated
Speaking to the Celt, Mr Swift who led an active life, biking and cycling across Europe before the accident, recounted the struggle medics had in applying the tourniquet to his leg by the side of the road.
Given the extent of the injuries, he described how he could feel each tug of the ratchet as it was pulled tighter and tighter and ultimately overhearing how his leg may need to be amputated.
“I was just so angry at the situation, thinking of how it would effect everything, everyone in my life. [Christina] was on a cycling trip in Clones, and I was thinking how she knew none of this was happening and she was just still waiting for me to arrive,” he said.
Schoolteacher Ms O’Reilly was present in court with Mr Swift for McDonagh’s sentencing, and while the victim impact statement in the court spoke of their strong relationship, it outlined the impact Mr Swift’s leg loss has had on the couple.
“She’s an amazing woman, there’s no two ways about it. But it has put a strain on our relationship. She’s very active and where we would have done a lot of activities together, like the summer before we cycled around Normandy, this has put the kibosh on all that,” he said, adding his thanks to the staff and paramedics at Cavan General and Beaumont hospitals, gardaí, his family and all those who have assisted his recovery to date. “They’ve been incredible, a big help.”

'Worthless’ letter
Mr Swift also derided the contents of a letter written by McDonagh and given to the court by way of an apology, saying: “He can write his little letters but it means nothing. I read it. It was pathetic. Everybody has troubles, but it doesn’t give anybody licence to get into a car tanked up and go out an maim somebody.”
The former warehouse foreman, who is now studying Computers Systems and Networks as he aims to get his life back on track, believes that had McDonagh made good his espace from gardai, he would never have written the letter.
“If he hadn’t been caught, if those people hadn’t seen him try to hide the car, I’ve no doubt he’d be laughing and joking about it down the pub with his mates.”

Lessons to be learned
That same weekend, Mr Swift recalls how a similar incident occurred in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, where toddler Vanessa Siatka (23 months) was knocked and killed by Ciaran Lane (25) from Ashington Avenue, Cabra.
Lane, who had drunk a litre of vodka and took two grams of cocaine before the incident and was subsequently jailed for five years.
“There are lads running around, thinking they own the universe and they can do whatever they want. It goes on all the time, fellas getting into cars, thinking they can do whatever, killing or maiming people. Whatever I say probably isn’t going to stop them but I have a living reminder of what someone has done to me.”

For full court report, see page 4 of this week's Anglo Celt, in shops now.