A heartbroken father shouted frantically at a bin lorry driver to stop just seconds before his son was knocked down and killed.
Bin lorry driver Alex McDaid
Three year old Patrick McDonagh was killed when he got trapped beneath the lorry after chasing a ball onto a road.
A court today heard the harrowing details of the last moments of the life of the little boy.
Patrick, a twin, died when he was hit by a bin lorry at Ballymacool in Letterkenny on February 16th, 2010.
A 61 year old man today appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court charged in connection with the little boy’s death.
Alex McDaid, who was driving the lorry, is charged with dangerous driving causing death and also of driving without a valid driving license.
The little boy’s father Patrick Snr told how Patrick Jnr and his twin sister Megan had been playing with a ball seconds before the accident.
The family’s pet dog had taken the ball and Mr McDonagh had taken it and given the tennis ball back to little Patrick.
The father and mother of the late Patrick McDonagh Jnr, Patrick McDonagh Snr and Shirley McDonagh.
The ball then rolled down a hill from their home as Mr McDonagh roared at his son to stop.
“I ran down after him and I was roaring for the driver to stop,” he said
“He was bending down to pick up the ball and he was hit by the step at the back of the lorry and the lorry went over him.
“It happened in seconds but it felt like minutes,” he said.
The accused, Alex McDaid, of Bomany, Letterkenny, wiped away tears as Mr McDonagh recalled the last moments of his son’s life.
The boy’s mother Shirley, who was in the family’s home, said she heard her husband shouting “stop, stop.”
She ran outside and told how she saw the twin wheels of the back of the truck roll over her son.
“Patrick was lying on the ground. I picked him up. Patrick was gasping for air. I ran down the street and the ambulance came,” she said.
The ambulance rushed Shirley and Patrick Jnr to Letterkenny General Hospital but the court heard the little boy died a short time later from massive head injuries.
Some photographs taken at the scene were held back from the jury because of their graphic nature.
The court heard that blood and bone fragments were found at the scene.
Tomasz Duraj, who was working at the back of the Ferry’s Refuse lorry, revealed how he was standing on the back right hand side of the lorry when the accident happened.
The Polish national said there was nothing to alarm him that there was any danger.
He said because of the noise of the lorry he only realised what had happened when Mr McDaid turned off the engine.
Ms Sheree Young a neighbour of the McDonagh family, said she did not see the accident but saw Ms McDonagh cradling her child just minutes after the tragedy.
“It just seemed like a freak accident,” she said.
The trial continues tomorrow (WED).