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Mother tells how she looked helplessly on as son (5) was knocked down by car

Conor O'Neill was riding his bike in the Rosehead area of Ardoyne in 2014 when the accident happened
Conor O'Neill was riding his bike in the Rosehead area of Ardoyne in 2014 when the accident happened Conor O'Neill was riding his bike in the Rosehead area of Ardoyne in 2014 when the accident happened

AN inquest has heard how a mother looked on in horror as her five-year-old son was knocked down by a car just yards from his north Belfast home.

Conor O’Neill was riding his bicycle when the tragic accident happened in the Rosehead area of Ardoyne on the morning of June 11 2014.

The Holy Cross pupil was in his uniform and playing outside his home with a friend shortly before he was due to leave for school.

A neighbour of the family, Charlene Glackin, said she was was driving her blue Vauxhall car down a minor road and was slowing down at a junction when the collision took place.

The inquest heard that the Primary 1 pupil was carried by the car for some 15 metres before it came to a stop.

Witnesses said the boy was given CPR at the scene by people in the area including a binman before he was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A statement from emergency paediatric doctor Julianne Rainey said he suffered "non-survivable brain injuries", meaning that "further resuscitation would have been futile".

Much of the evidence at yesterday's hearing related to the exact moment and position of the car when the collision happened.

Conor's mother, Ciara Mailey, and a neighbour, Collette Quinn, said in their statements that the impact occurred as the car was negotiating a corner onto the main road.

Ms Mailey described how she saw her son and was about to call to him.

"I saw Conor and then the car came around, just came round so quickly - and that was it, I knew my wee boy had no chance," she said through tears.

However, Emerson Callendar, a forensic officer who was called to the scene, said he believed the moment of collision came prior to the car reaching Give Way markings on the road.

He said he reached this conclusion by examining scrapings on the road and markings left by the victim’s bicycle on the car.

"There was nothing to indicate the car was travelling at an excessive speed," he added.

Noting the conflict between his testimony and that of other witnesses, Coroner Susan Anderson asked Mr Callendar whether this was common in such cases.

"In my experience it is not unusual - frequently evidence on the scene would contradict eye-witness accounts," he said.

The coroner said when witnesses are recalling a shocking and traumatic event "they can often get distances, movements and vehicles incorrect".

"I have to give most weight to physical evidence and the independent witness."

She ruled that Conor O’Neill had died from severe head injuries sustained when he collided with a car, before the vehicle had made the left-hand turn onto the main road near his Rosehead home.