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Siblings' tattoo tributes to Gavin
21.06.11
by Linda McGrory
SIBLINGS of a young Buncrana man killed in an horror
road crash got tattoos bearing his name to help them
cope with their loss, a bereaved mother told a road
safety conference yesterday.
Annette Duffy recalled the night she learned her son
Gavin (21) was killed along with his girlfriend,
Charlene O'Connor (21), his cousin Darren Quinn (21)
and their friends Rochelle Peoples (22) and her
boyfriend, David Steele (23).
Psychiatric nurse, Brendan Henderson (52) from Seven
Oaks, Derry, is serving a four year jail sentence
for dangerous driving causing the five deaths at
Quigley’s Point on the Inishowen peninsula, on
October 8, 2005.
Ms Duffy, a mother-of-eight, was speaking about the
impact of fatal crashes on families at the 'Road
Ahead' seminar organised by the University of Ulster
at the Inishowen Gateway Hotel.
"Our daughters, Shannon and Zara, got Gavin's name
tattooed on the inside of their wrists and our son
Pio got a tattoo with a cross and Gavin's name on
his upper arm.
"Our younger children gathered up all the
photographs and stories from the newspapers they
could find and made scrap books," she said. |
Ms Duffy, a social care
worker with the HSE and counsellor, said while she
was initially concerned when her children asked for
tattoos, she "weighed it all up" in light of their
grief.
"I thought, well, it's better for them to get a
tattoo than to go out and get full drunk. You have
to weigh it all up and obviously you talk to them
about going to somebody reputable so they don't get
infections.
"I understand why they would want a tattoo. They
want Gavin permanently engraved because he is always
in their hearts.
"They always have him at the forefront of their
minds now but they don't let it ruin their lives.
They are getting on with their lives. They are doing
the best they can," added Ms Duffy. |
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Annette Duffy, counsellor and mother
of crash victim, Gavin Duffy, who addressed the
'Road Ahead' conference in Buncrana. |
"Trauma does have a
permanent lasting effect. Some people will develop
positive coping strategies but then others will hit
the drink or other behaviour."
Ms Duffy, who is married to Brendan Duffy, also
called for a "listening ear" service and the
establishment of a locally-based trauma centre. Such
a centre, she said, would be essential for families
in the community to be "supported by a holistic
approach" and where resilience and social and
emotional health could be fostered.
Other speakers at yesterday's conference included Dr
Michael Gormley of Trinity College, Dublin, who
spoke on the topic, 'what makes young male drivers
so problematic?'. He said one of the main problems
was that young males, unlike adults, did not
immediately associate risky driving with potential
death. He said another problem was that driving, for
young men, was a "rite of passage" and a means of
expression rather than a way of getting from A to B.
But he warned that demonising young male drivers was
"not the way forward". |
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