A Co Wexford woman has made an urgent call for legislative reform at the sentencing hearing of a man for a road crash, which resulted in the loss of her unborn son.
Saoirse Aylward made the appeal at the hearing of a 31-year-old man who had been charged with dangerous driving causing her serious bodily harm.
However, Ms Aylward told Wexford Circuit Court about her frustration and deep sorrow that her unborn son could not be recognised as a separate victim in the road traffic collision under Irish law.
Yurii Dudek, with an address listed in Oblast, Ukraine, previously pleaded guilty to causing the three-vehicle collision.
The incident occurred on the main Rosslare to Wexford Road in the townland of Drinagh on 27 January 2024.
The court heard that the accused was in Ireland at the time collecting medical supplies and humanitarian aid for the Ukrainian army and people impacted by the war in his home country.
Judge Cormac Quinn was told that Mr Dudek had arrived into Northern Ireland before driving south and picking up the supplies.
He and a companion, who were taking the driving in turns, were on their way to Rosslare Europort in Co Wexford to arrange for the transport of the humanitarian goods to Ukraine.
Garda John O'Flynn of Glynn Garda Station gave evidence that the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van that was being driven by Mr Dudek at the time had rear-ended another vehicle that had stopped to make a right turn into the driveway of a house directly off the N25.
The vehicle that was rear-ended was then pushed into oncoming traffic, hitting the car in which Ms Aylward and her partner Nathan Fergeson Murphy were travelling.
The court heard that Ms Aylward, who was 31 weeks' pregnant at the time, had to have an emergency C-section after being brought by ambulance to Wexford General Hospital.
When she woke up, she was told that her son Jax was stillborn.
Prosecuting Counsel Sinéad Gleeson said it was the State's case that the van had been overloaded with supplies and exceeded the manufacturer's load limit for the vehicle.
Ms Gleeson also said while the State could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr Dudek had been using his mobile phone at the time of the collision, a number of apps on his phone had been open.
The court was also told that Mr Dudek had stopped at a nearby garage a short time before the collision and purchased a pot noodle.
The court heard that these noodles were discovered on the dashboard of the van after the collision had occurred.
Judge Quinn was told that all parties involved had passed a roadside breath test.
Both Ms Aylward and Mr Fergeson Murphy gave detailed victim impact statements before the court today, outlining the profound impact that the incident and the loss of their son had on them both mentally and physically.
Ms Aylward placed a picture of her son Jax on the witness box before delivering almost an hour of victim impact evidence.
Reading her statement to the court, she said she lives with a "constant awareness" of how fragile life can be.
"I fear further medical emergencies. I fear my body failing me. I fear experiencing the level of physical brutality and violence that I endured in the collision and its aftermath. Even joyful moments are now layered with caution and anxiety. My trauma did not end on the day of the crash. It continues.
"The permanence of this loss is something I carry every day. I did not just lose a baby. I lost my only son. I lost the opportunity to hear him call me "Mama" or to say "I love you", to watch him take his first steps, to bring him to his first day of school.
"I will never see him grow into a young man, fall in love, get married, or build a life of his own. He will never have the future we imagined for him.
"His absence will be present at every milestone in our family's life. Birthdays, school events, Christmas mornings, graduations, there will always be a space where he should have been. That absence is permanent."
Ms Aylward also outlined her frustration that nobody could be found legally accountable for her son's death.
She said: "Discovering that Jax could not be recognised as a separate victim in this incident has deeply affected me and I believe highlights a gap in our judicial system.
"I am aware that no sentence can undo what happened. Nothing can bring Jax back. Nothing can restore my body or mind to what they were before that night.
"However, accountability matters. Recognition matters. Acknowledgment of the full harm caused matters, not only to me, but to my family and to the memory of my son.
"Completing this statement has been deeply distressing. My resolve in sharing it has come not from an expression of anger or blame but from a deep need to finally have my voice heard.
"This was not a single moment in my life. It has altered every part of my present and every part of my future. I have been given a life sentence and will live with the consequences of that night for the rest of my life," Ms Aylward said.
Fergal Kavanagh SC for the defence said there were a number of mitigating factors in the case.
Mr Kavanagh said that these included his client's genuine remorse, how he was acting in a voluntary capacity to send humanitarian supplies back to Ukraine, and his guilty plea.
Judge Quinn said that he would need to sleep on the matter and adjourned sentencing to tomorrow morning.
