TEEN AND FOUNDATION NEGLIGENT IN KILREEKIL CRASH

Date Published: 23-Nov-2011

A teenage driver and a foundation have been found equally negligent in the case of a car crash that led to the deaths of two young girls in Galway.

Two 12 year olds died when the car they were travelling in crashed in the village of Kilreekil in March 2008.

The girls were among a group from the Islamic cultural centre in Clonskeagh, run by the Al Maktoum foundation, and were on a trip to Connemara.

Most of the group had travelled in two minibuses owned by Al Maktoum, while the youth co-ordinator Rabia Patel, hired a car to carry the remainder.

Her daughter, Fatima Patel, then aged 19, was driving when they crashed into a pole outside Kilreekil, resulting in the deaths of two girls.

The victims sisters, Walla Ayadi sued the Al Maktoum foundation, the car hire company, Rabia and Fatima Patel and the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland.

The Irish Times reports that in the High Court yesterday Justice Iarfhlaith O' Neil ruled Fatima Patel had been negligent in her driving and this had led to the crash.

The judge also found the Al Maktoum foundation, was equally negligent because of its failure to make adequate provisions for the outing.