Families Bereaved Through Car Crime

Patrick Hanna should have celebrated his 31st birthday this week- instead his family was mourning his loss. At 28 years old his life was snatched away in a split second and the lives of his family destroyed by car thieves who left Patrick to die on a roadside. Three years on and his heartbroken mother Peggy, is still coming to terms with the death of her only son; yet the man who claimed Patrick's life is FREE after a brief spell behind bars. Peggy, who now rarely leaves the safety of her home, said:"Geard Gaskin, who killed Patrick, was originally charged with nine offences but by the time of the court hearing they had been dropped to just three;he received just three years for causing death by dangerous driving, which normally, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years ;  we have been  left to serve  the life sentence ,not him". 

KILLERS

Paddy,Patrick's father,   said: "He ended up serving 18  months in the young offenders centre for stealing a car, he obviously had no insurance and  he killed our son; it's a  sick joke. He was treated exactly the same as anyone who drives their own car without insurance, MOT or tax and  then kills someone" accidentally". There should be a separate law for "Death Drivers,"he said. The Hanna's, who fought, to no avail, to get a stiffer sentence for their sons killer, believe the judicial system is in need of a massive overhaul. Paddy went on to say: "There is no such thing as" joyriding "; it's KILLERS IN CARS." Peggy added "We fought tooth and nail; we actually stopped the court proceedings to try and get the charge raised to manslaughter, but we were unsuccessful. Yet, Gaskin was able to get a two year sentence for taking and driving away and no insurance reduced to six months on appeal." She said that, "unless the law  is changed, Debbie Mc Comb, who was killed after being hit by a stolen car, on March 1st, would not be the last person to die; the whole system is wrong. These people are brought to court and are given a slap on the wrist. People who get into stolen cars know that if they are caught, there's no long prison sentence. If "death drivers" had been getting longer sentences, Debbie Mc Comb might be alive today". The tragedy is, that there are dozens of families like the Hanna's trying to rebuild their lives after they were shattered by car thieves. Peggie said: "We were writing out notices for our sons birthday and another child gets killed and its all brought back; Patrick was by no means perfect, but he didn't deserve to go out for a packet of cigarettes and never come home again. He was an easy going person who took life one day at a time and we miss him so much it's still hard to believe that he is not going to come back again. I don't know where the time has gone or how I survived it; only for the support of my family and friends I would never have got through it; It doesn't get any easier. It's there with you every day. Our whole lives have just been completely changed. I still find it hard to come to terms with the fact that Patrick is gone and his killer is free with his whole life ahead of him".

Patrick, a father of one, was struck by car thieves on January 24th 1999 as he walked from his flat to a nearby garage on the Andersonstown Road to get a packet of cigarettes. The night that Patrick was mown down by car thieves there were 28 stolen cars in that area alone."The ones that killed him were driving on the wrong side of the road when they hit him."If it wasn't murder then they should definitely have been charged with manslaughter. They hit him at 80 or 90 miles per hour and he was tossed up into the air onto the  main road. Two taxis shielded his body from other" joyriders" who were racing up and down the road". said Peggy.

And that is why Peggy and Paddy are backing the Sunday People` NO TO CAR THIEVES`.campaign. Peggy said: "Car thieves have seen the devastation their actions cause, but they do not seem to care or else they wouldn't get back into a stolen car. People can only turn a blind eye for so long, thinking that it will never happen to them-until it does. Our family have explored every avenue and questioned everybody and everything and still we have got no justice and more people have died needlessly in the meantime. It's so frustrating; one person cannot change things, as we unfortunately discovered ,but people need to keep the momentum going; everyone needs to come together, to pressurise the politicians in Government to toughen the sentences and rid us of this plague."

The Hanna's have also hit out at their own, Northern Irelands politicians, for not pushing the matter. Peggy said:"The politicians are there because the people have put them there, so its time they did more. They are not doing anywhere near enough and it's a disgrace: death,caused by so called "joyriding, is murder . Paddy has no doubts about that; he said "If you get into a stolen car, you should be charged with murder, if you kill  with it, because it's a deadly weapon, used to commit an offence; It should be considered the same as shooting into a crowd with a loaded weapon . Judges are allowed to give 10 years for" death by dangerous driving" but none of them have ever exercised that right ; if they did they would soon keep" death drivers" off our streets. And when you are jailed, you should be locked up until your time is served. And as for those young offenders centres; a lot of use they are ; they should be sent to jail and the short, sharp, shock would do them and the rest of society a lot more good than a spell in a holiday camp.If they had done that from the beginning, this problem, probably ,would have been sorted out a long time ago and Debbie Mc Comb - and our son- and all the other victims-  might be alive today".     

The Hanna Family