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ALMOST €30,000 HAS been raised for a man left in a vegetative state after a horrific scrambler crash.
The money was raised in just one day after people read about Ilabek Avetian’s situation in a number of newspapers yesterday.
Ilabek (39) suffered devastating brain injuries and lost his left eye after a scrambler bike crashed into him and his wife Anzhela Kotsinian while they were sunbathing in Darndale Park in Dublin on 9 June.
Speaking to journalist Laura Lynott in the Irish Independent, Anzhela (43) thanked people for their generosity.
“It is very hard for me to put into words how this has helped me today. From the morning when I looked online, I have not been able to stop crying.
“To know that so many Irish people wanted to help Ilabek and me has made me very happy. I cannot describe how this feels to know so many Irish people cared for us.”
Anzhela sustained a fractured pelvis in the crash and has stayed with her husband at Beaumont Hospital since the incident. The couple are originally from Armenia but had moved to Ireland to start a new life just weeks beforehand.
Legislation
Speaking in the wake of the media coverage, Fianna Fáil TD John Curran said legislative action must be taken to curb the illegal use of all-terrain vehicles including scramblers and quad bikes in urban areas.
“Despite existing local authority by-laws that prohibit the illegal use of mechanically propelled vehicles in public areas, the gardaí have little or no authority to enforce these laws…
“As far as I am concerned the only meaningful solution would be to implement legislative change to clamp down on the improper use of scramblers and quads and the anti-social behaviour linked to it,” Curran said in a statement.
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Sadly it was only a matter of time before this happened. So sorry for this couple, and I hope the support they are receiving brings them comfort. The government must act to allow Garda enforcement, and credit to John Curran who has been bringing this up for a long time. Parents who buy these and ignore their kids on them should be held accountable.
@Luke McDermott: The Garda should be allowed ram these idiots off the road. Same as going around with a loaded weapon, take them out before they kill anyone else, simple as that.
@Luke McDermott: used to live in Artane and watched v young lads on scramblers destroy the football pitches on Oscar Traynor road. No one gave a sh!te. Yes, unfortunately, it was only a matter of time.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: In the UK the Police have started to use undercover officers on Scramblers to tackle stolen mopeds and scramblers been driven on public roads. We need to do the same over here.. https://youtu.be/geVhlMas_FM
@Luke McDermott: Dessie Ellis introduced legislation to the dail and it wasn’t considered. The minister for justice and attorney general are dragging their heels on this saying for nearly three years now that they are working on it . They need to get the finger out and draft legislation to allow the gardai to confiscate the bikes and prosecute .
@Darren moore: They won’t do a damn thing. In the days after this incident the gardaí published images, including on this site of them allegedly confiscating scramblers and ATV’s. Yet on closer inspection these images clearly showed the bikes to be in pieces and covered in mud and grass. They weren’t confiscated, they were bits that were found on wasteland.
Give the gardai the power to confiscate the vehicles and crush them. Then if they are kids driving them prosecute the parents.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: The parents are probably on the back of the bike pished anyway!
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: The parents are probably on the back of the bike locked anyway!
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: The parents are probably on the back of the bike anyway!
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: They already have the power to confiscate uninsured vehicles…guess how many of these are insured.
They claim not to have the manpower and claim to be scared of litigation if one of the fools comes off while being apprehended.
Both excuses sound like BS to me.
@Danny Rafferty: They can only impound the bike. Bike can be returned to owner with an adult on the back of a truck. Driver gets court thats it
@Danny Rafferty: Bikes can only be seized for no insurance if they are stopped while being driven in a public place. When gardaí go near these lads, they lash off with no regard for anyone. If gardaí give chase & there’s an accident, the gardaí will get the blame for ‘causing’ the chase!
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: an absolutely first class idea. This should be implemented immediately, today, and not passed about and “spoken” about nor “looking into the matter”. A phone call from a Minister today to tell the Garda to do exactly this, then let the Minister go and sort out those people who profit from and love the legal niceties. That poor man and his wife would not be in this situation now.
@Danny Rafferty: when did they make these claims?
An awful tragedy for this couple and a crime too. What has happened re the perp who destroyed their lives, was he arrested or did he take off, we need to know there is some justice and retribution.
@helen walsh: very good question!
@helen walsh: he’s a juvenile, so he must be first put through the youth diversion programme.
@helen walsh: Nothing happened to him.Zero punishment “In June, gardaí said a 16-year-old boy was helping them with their enquiries but three months no arrests have been made. A Garda spokesman said investigations were ongoing.”
Nacks can do what they want in this country.
If I drove a car without tax or insurance I would expect it to be confiscated. Gardai need to enforce the law before the next person is horrifically injured or killed. It’s inevitable.
@Unconvertible Rebel: ireland is on its way to becoming a lawless cac whole country
The IrishMirror and a few others did a full story on this yesterday and drove the GoFundMe campaign.
The poor woman’s been through a lot.
Disgraceful area.
@Diogenes: ever been there? Ever met any of the hard working families there? Happy for ya that you come from a well heeled area where there’s not 1 iota of anti social behaviour!
@Liam Whelan: That’s a lot of word-twisting right there
@Liam Whelan: I came from a council estate, bad people there as well, also people who turned a blind eye to these lads that bring a whole area down.
@Diogenes: Are you implying the issue of feral youths on motorcycles is unique to one area of the country??
@Diogenes: Would take a very brave person to stand up to a group of lawless scrotes with no fear of the Gardai let alone you or I!
@Dotty Dunleary: Yeh I guess, I guess the good work that the decent people in the community gets overshadowed by some of these people.
@Liam Whelan: the mentality is to laugh at others misfortune
Always
This is no different
@Diogenes: the good work like cleaning up litter and helping in community centers is done by the few compared to the population not the other way around
Totally delusional
Those things are not cheap but please by all means tell us how you need more handouts!
Awful story
@Jalbeardzi, The Typo Pirate Yaarrrr: what are you talking about?
@Dave Byrne:
Just ranting out of anger when I read that Dave. Made out that people can afford to buy these bikes but still insist on getting stuff for nothing. Stupid comment really but typed it in anger and should have just said nothing really. Saddens me though that the person on the bike was more than likely underage and will just get a rap on the knuckles
@Jalbeardzi, The Typo Pirate Yaarrrr: But he was just sunbathing in the park when some scrote crashed in to him on his scrambler. I wouldn’t begrudge him seeking financial assistance at all
@Dave Byrne: He is talking about the juvenile who crashed into him and the juvenile’s family, I assume.
@Art Smith:
Correct the comment was made about the person on the bike and not the victim
Unfortunately it is not just children virtually every day I meet young adults on these bikes in Tolka Valley Park
Still nothing dine about the angles that do no wrong flying up and down paths and main roads. Parents should be held accountable
Do it sooner rather than later before this happens to someone else
Lazy Garda not doing anything, much perfer the easy jobs. There is law’s in place for this already
@Vincent: personally I blame the driver, but you rant away there.
@Vincent: no it’s parents who are paying for their kids to have these who are responsible.
@Paul: The Gardai ignore these people.
They wouldn’t ignore me, or most people who are reading this if we were breaking the law.
Yes. The Gardai have responsibility to do something. It’s their job that they get paid handsomely to carry out.
@Fiasco99: your saying they never ever seize these bikes?
@Fiasco99: paid handsomely, which planet do you live on?
Starting Salary for standard rank is €25k, with a top Salary of €45k only reached after 17 years service. Yes the salary jumps up to €40k after five years, but pretty much flatlines thereafter. But pitiful amounts really given the mental and physical challenges they face dealing with the worst dregs of society, on any given day the leave their houses not knowing what danger they will be faced with…
The Garda have given up parts of the city are lawless
Hope they catch the gutless rat that did this and fled the scene.
The following week the scramblers were back on that green. True story. Thanks.
The poor man i hope he gets better soon
And still nothing being done, will it take a young child or mother with a buggy to be mowed down before we see some law & order.
It’s sad to say but it’ll be a shock to her how quick 30,000 will last.
I hope the conscience of that driver is very much troubled. I’m sure he never intended the accident but mentally he will never survive unless he comes forward and admits what he has done. Also others know full well who this culprit is and should counsel him to do the right thing.
@Micheal S. O’ Ceilleachair: The scrotes who rally around day and night on these scramblers don’t have a conscience, morals, intelligence or anything a normal person has, they are a sub-species who live outside the norms of society…
have your say