Families Bereaved Through Car Crime

Jamie Lee Brammeld was forced to grow up without her mother after car thieves stole her life away ; in 1991, the little Belfast girl had just celebrated her second birthday, when so called" joyriders " killed her pregnant mother, Maureen, on the Stewartstown Road. Years later and on the same day, a 10,000 strong petition demanding tougher sentences for car thieves, was handed into the office of the First and Deputy First Ministers. Jamie Lee became a teenager. Her granny, Molly Brammeld said" Jamie Lee never really got to know her mother;she was forced to grow up without her mum; that poor wee girl is 13 now and she never got the chance to share her life with her mum". Maureen Brammeld was killed in the same week she planned to flee the violence going on around her in the Twinbrook estate. Her mother, Molly, described Maureen as" a jolly girl who was always "the life and soul of the party"; she was wonderful; she loved to sing ,and the week before she was killed, she entered a club singing competition and won the heat; the last time I spoke to her was when she phoned to tell me she had won; she was looking forward to the final but never got there; three days later, on March 19, Maureen and her friends were driving to a pub quiz when car thieves, traveling at 120mph crashed into them on the Stewartstown Road. Maureen, just 23-year-old, was six mounts pregnant, and was flung out from the back seat of the car". Her sister Katrina said,"a man ran over to her and put a coat over her; the last words she said to him was"'watch my baby";minutes later Maureen and her unborn baby were dead."The ambulance came and rushed her to Foster Green hospital but it was to late. Every part of her body was broken. The car thieves, 16year-old, Francis Mc Colgan and Paul Mc Astocker,18 , were arrested after Mrs mc Colgan forced them to go to the police. Paul McAstocker was convicted of reckless driving causing death, driving while disqualified, driving with no insurance and taking and driving away. He received four years in a young offenders centre.

Francis Joseph Mc Colgan from Horn Drive in Belfast was convicted of allowing himself to be carried in a motor vehicle, taking without authority, no insurance and driving while disqualified. He was given 18 months in a young offenders centre.

Molly said, "They were convicted in a court in Craigavon .and we didn't even know about it.It was just all hush,  hush;we were sitting here when her daddy, Jim ,got the call and was told what they had been sentenced to; there was no justice handed down for the murder of my daughter," Said Molly. The Brammeld family reunited to commemorate the 11th anniversary of Maureen's death ,but Molly admits her family's pain hasn't eased. "Our grief is just the same and it hasn't got any better since the priest came to my door that night to tell me about Maureen".  Maureen's older sister Angela, said, "it`s harder to accept because she was snatched away so suddenly;  it's more difficult because Maureen wasn't meant to die; if she had an illness or sickness, maybe we could start to grieve properly, but she hadn't; she was stolen from us." Katrina believes joyriders aren't always high on drink or drugs when they steal cars. "That's an excuse and I want people to know this; the high these people are on is stealing cars- that's their high; stealing cars and racing them up and down in front of stupid,stupid people, who stand and encourage them. The proof was read out at Maureen's inquest".

In Mc Astocker's statement, he was asked if he was drunk; he replied 'I don't f###### drink' ; he was asked if he was on drugs or had sniffed glue; he said "I don't f####### take drugs, or do drugs".

Katrina is adamant that neither drink nor drugs were involved in her sister's death." When people like Mc Colgan and Mc Astocker get into cars, they know they can cause injury or death but they don't care". she said. Angela viewed her wee sister's death as murder. "When someone goes out with a knife to stab somebody, their murder weapon is the knife; when people get into these cars, that is their murder weapon;it's worse now than it ever was; it used to be you would only see" joyriders" on a Friday or Saturday night; now there are cars being stolen from Sunday right through to Saturday;the problem is just spiralling out of control" said Angela. Neither Paul Mc Astocker nor Francis Mc Colgan ,have ever expressed sympathy to Maureen Brammeld's family. Molly said:"I received a letter from Mc Astocker but there was no remorse what so ever.I never received a thing from Mc Colgan".

MEMORIES

Katrina said the death of Debbie Mc Comb, Ulster's latest car theft victim, brought all the memories of 11 years ago  flooding back to their family. "I went up to see that wee girl in her coffin and the trauma was just  the same as what we went through; the pain and suffering that the Mc Comb family were feeling was heartbreaking. The Brammeld family fear that the death of Debbie Mc Comb will, like Maureen,s be quickly forgotten about". Molly said: "That wee girl was killed  just last month and it brings it all flooding back to us. But in another month Debbie will be forgotten about just like Maureen". Angela said," people who steal cars know they will get a slap on the wrists;they know the justice system better than you or I and they know when they are caught they'll be given a "Micky Mouse" sentence". Molly Brammeld said that if her daughter's killers had received longer sentences, she might feel a bit better knowing they were paying for their crime."The police could do more; they should keep them in as soon as they are arrested and charged and not let them out again until the outcome of the trial;and that is why the Brammeld's have pledged their full support for the Sunday People` No To Car Thieves' campaign. Angela said: "It's got to make a difference. The police arrest people in this area for fighting etc.,and make sure they receive harsh penalties;so called "joyriders" are getting off scot free for what they do". Katrina said: "thugs who do this would start to think twice if there were longer sentences; in America and  England the sentences are longer, so why not here? It's about time our politicians sat up and paid attention to the pain and suffering that we, and countless other families devastated as a result of this epidemic, are going through."  

Brammeld Family