Families Bereaved Through Car Crime

Instead of celebrating Christmas Kevin Fitzpatrick lives in dread of the festive season; For him and his young family the month of December holds only memories of tears and heartache; It was a week before Christmas two years ago that their world was shattered by a knock at the door; a policeman had come to break the devastating news, that his wife Dana and eight - year-old son Kevin Danie, l had been killed by car thieves.  They had only gone a short distance from their Manor Street home, to meet a friend on the Antrim Road, when drunken hoods traveling at high speed on the wrong side of the road, ploughed into them. It was their usual Saturday night routine, but what should have been a five minute walk ,turned into an unimaginable horror story.

"They di dn't stand a chance" said Kevin; "the speeding car had come racing up the wrong side of the Antrim Road. Dana was hurled 30ft into the air and smashed into a parked car. She died on impact .Kevin Daniel was pulled under the car and dragged for 70yards before being thrown into the path of a 4X4 vehicle"he recalled."It was just dreadful and our friend, Paul, witnessed it all. Minutes before, Dana had gone with Kevin to meet Paul; we always had a couple of beers on a Saturday night and played the play station ; I stayed at home to get the two wee ones ready for bed and Kevin, who was really close to his mum, went with her. It was the same routine every week, but when they left the last time, I had no idea I would never see them again."he said.

The killer, Darren Fields, from Ardglass in Co Down, got seven years for killing the 28-year-old mother and son and showed no remorse when jailed for the paltry term. Even the judge hit out at the inadequate powers of the courts, which stopped him from caging Fields for longer. This sentence means Fields, who admitted downing eight bottles and 12 cans of beer on the night of the tragedy, will be free by Easter 2004 after serving three-and-a half years. The two passengers, Desmond Mc Farlane, 25, from the New Lodge Road and Seamus Callaghan, 21, from the Short Strand, were set free after only six months in jail

. But Kevin, 32, will never be free from the nightmare events of December 16 which changed his life ,and that of his entire family circle, forever.

Recalling the knock at the door, he said, "I was putting the other kids, James, who was 18 months and A nn Marie, who was four at the time, to bed ,when I remember this English guy coming to the door and saying there had been an accident on the  Antrim Road and I was thinking: Why are you telling me?,So I went with him still not knowing what was going on and my sister stayed with the kids.;but when I raced down to the Antrim Road, the brutal reality lay in front of me ; I started screaming and crying, I just lost it and was really inconsolable. My Dana was lying on the ground".

In shock he went to hospital clinging  to the hope that his little son would make it through only to be told that he had died in the ambulance. "It made things even worse, Kevin's injuries were so severe that there was nothing they could do. He was lying there with a wee blanket covering him. The priest said a few prayers and stayed with him for half an hour and then went about telling everyone what had happened. It was awful; I came home and the tree was up and all the decorations, but it meant nothing of course. I just didn't know where to turn to, or what to do ;Dana just loved Christmas,  it was her most favourite time of the year. Her vision was a big decorated tree and presents...she loved to see the kids with their smiling faces and she just wanted to make it more special every year .She was a fun-loving person, an absolute joy,"

he said. Dana, who had grown up in England, moved to Belfast in 1990 after meeting Kevin through relatives on her 18th in St., Galls. They exchanged telephone numbers and within weeks became inseparable as she made the move to Belfast." She was my soul mate; it was just meant to be," he said.

The couple married in 1994 and moved to the Cliftonville area. But despite the happiness the couple were tortured by local hoods and had planned on moving out of the area. "Dana stood up to them , so that left us vulnerable; she was taunted by hoods and thugs. It is so ironic, like an evil twist of fate,that she was prepared to tackle the hoods on the Cliftonville, when she was knocked down and killed by a  thug from Ardglass ,Co., Down"

Now, after a painful two years, Kevin, who has moved next door to his mother on the Shore Road in Newtonabby, said he was trying to pick up the pieces again for the sake of his kids. "I told the kids that their mummy was up in heaven with the angels looking down on them, but they're a bit too young to understand. I take them to the cemetery and I go by myself ,once a week ,to talk to Dana and Kevin. And we'll go on Christmas morning. For the first time I'm getting ready for Christmas, for the kids. The year they were killed it was all a blur; I didn't have a surprise for Dana because I'd bought her a necklace and she was so excited about it she was already wearing it. That's just what she was like," he said."Last Christmas we just went through the motions and didn't really celebrate it .Obviously the Christmas before was just a blank; it was your worst nightmare come true; but now for the first time I've put up a wee tree myself even though I dreaded it; It holds horrible memories for me now," he said. He revealed that he received sympathy letters from the culprit's families but added: "I can never forgive the killers and I don't like myself for that ,but I'm a great believer in the principle that "'what comes around goes around' . I believe they will pay for what they have done in the next life. Paramilitary justice is not the answer for these so called 'joyriding' scum-bags and if they have any conscience they'll have to live with this for the rest of their lives. But at least I'm making a go of getting on with my life- at least for the sake of the kids .I still have good days and bad...I still have to sleep with the light on,but at least with our group Families Bereaved Through Car Crime we're making some headway towards getting the law changed and that's something. These killers have to be stopped; they can't be allowed to go on destroying families and lives and getting away with it", he said with determination.