Two children have been awarded €10,000 each after suffering trauma when they heard their father was involved in a car accident.
The man was involved in a serious car crash in Burnfoot on January 13th, 2017.
The children were not in the car at the time of the accident but learned of it later.
Two settlement claims on behalf of his children were brought to Letterkenny Circuit Court for judgement.
The court was told that the injured man was seriously hurt in an accident in Burnfoot on January 17th, 2017.
He spent almost six months in hospital.
Settlements were made in court for both children whom it was claimed were secondary victims.
In the case of the first child, the court was told that the 11-year-old child had suffered from nervous shock after learning of her father’s accident.
The child went through a period of wanting to stay at home and didn’t want to sleep on its own and was clingy and worried about her father.
The child would also ensure that everyone had their seatbelts on when the family were traveling in their car.
In the case of the second child, barrister for both children, Mr Peter Nolan, told the court that the child was on the autism spectrum and that her daddy’s accident was an “acute source of stress” for her.
The child, who was considered a “daddy’s girl”, could not see her father for months after the crash because she couldn’t be in a room with him for fear that she might jump on him with excitement.
As a result, the child became clingy and could not sleep.
Judge John Aylmer agreed to both offers of €10,000 each as well as the Circuit Court costs adding that the offers were reasonable in the circumstances.