THE grandmother of a seven-year-old boy killed in a three-car crash in Co Antrim remains critically ill in hospital.
Jackson Turner died following the St Stephen's Day collision in which seven others were injured including his four-year-old sister.
His grandmother Margaret Saunders, who was driving, yesterday remained in a critical condition at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
Jackson's younger sister Ally suffered bruises but has since been discharged from hospital.
Five people from the two other cars sustained injuries that are not thought to be life threatening.
Police said the crash, involving two Nissan cars and a Citroen, happened at about 6.30pm on Old Carrick Road, Newtownabbey.
Ms Saunders was driving Jackson and Ally to their mother Lynsey Turner's home in Carrickfergus when the accident happened, involving two vehicles travelling in the other direction.
Ms Turner has tearfully told how she gently said to her son, "See you later alligator", by his hospital bedside in the moments before he died.
Only a day earlier her two children had been excitedly unwrapping presents on Christmas morning.
The distraught 37-year-old fondly described Jackson as her "wee star" and said she felt "so broken" without him.
Jackson was among six people who tragically lost their lives on roads across Ireland since Christmas Day, including father-of-six Patrick Buckley.
His body was found in his car after it had struck a ditch and ended up in flood water close to the Co Offaly village of Pullough shortly after midnight on Sunday.
The 38-year-old musician, who was married to Margaret and had three daughters and three sons, had been playing a gig in a local pub on St Stephen's Night before his death.
In Co Wexford, Judy Waters (29), a mother of infant twins, died when her car struck a wall near New Ross early on Saturday evening.
She is survived by her partner John and the couple's children JJ and Olivia, as well as her parents Tommy and Olive and two brothers.
Separately, Feargal O'Reilly (18) also died on Saturday after the car he was driving collided with another car and a truck at Kilcogy in Co Cavan.
On Christmas Day, Warren Kenny (16) died when two motorbikes collided on Cherry Orchard Avenue in Dublin.
Meanwhile, Polish national Lukas Bielinski (29) was fatally injured after he was hit by a car as he walked along a Carlow road later that night.
The tragedies come a week after another road crash in the north claimed the life of seven-year-old Ryan McGovern.
He died after being knocked down on Lattone Road, between the villages of Belcoo and Garrison in Co Fermanagh, on Sunday December 20.
The keen young boxer and GAA player was fondly remembered as an "inspirational young boy".
