‘Driver left me disabled, court sent wrong message’
An Irish man has been left feeling shortchanged by the courts, after a driver who left him permanently disabled in a car accident received a €1,000 fine and points off her licence as penalty.
On September 16, 2017, while on holiday in Malta, Declan Treanor and Claire Fastner had just booked a boat trip to Comino from the Strand in Sliema and popped into a cafe across the road for coffee. As they were crossing back to wait at the ferry stand, a car struck Declan, sending him hurtling through the air, where he landed on the hard tarmac.
The couple had been crossing on a zebra crossing and were walking out in front of a car that had stopped to let them pass in the third lane when Declan stepped into the fourth lane and was hit.
The collision left Declan grievously injured and in a coma for eight weeks.
“I could only see his face and he looked shocked, that’s what I remember,” Claire told Times of Malta.
The accident happened on The Strand in Sliema. Photo: Shutterstock.com
“He was hit on the shoulder and thrown into the street. It was a massive accident and when I saw him on the ground I knew it was a matter of life or death. It was a much more tragic accident than I initially...