Heartbroken mum reveals she’s slept in daughter’s bed ever since she was killed by drunk-driver over two years ago
Tracey Baird wiped away tears as she paid tribute to her loving daughter Kiara, who was just 19 years old when she died in the horror crash in Co Donegal
A HEARTBROKEN mum has revealed how she has slept in her daughter’s bed ever since she was killed by a drunk-driver.
Tracey Baird wiped away tears as she paid tribute to her loving daughter Kiara, who was just 19 years old when she died.
Kiara and pal Maria Wallace, 38, on a country road in Co in September 2016.
Tracey, who has also battled cancer, told a hushed courtroom how she slept beside her daughter when she arrived home to be waked at the family home in Ballybofey.
She had identified her daughter, Kiara’s body, on the morning after the car crash.
She said: “I remember not wanting it to be her.
“Kiara’s body arrived home that night and we laid her out in her bedroom for her wake.
“I slept beside her for them few nights and I still haven’t left her room. I have slept there ever since.
“Her clothes are still in her wardrobe and chest of drawers. Her bath towel still hangs where she left it.”
On the day of the crash Kiara and pal Maria had just finished college and met Dowd in a bar in Ballybofey.
Just after 4pm on September 21, the 24-year-old drove Maria’s car at speed out the Glenfin Road narrowly avoiding a number of cars.
Despite pleas from the two women for him to slow down, Dowd lost control of the Citreon car and struck a lamppost.
Both women were thrown from the car with Kiara being killed instantly while Maria was rushed to hospital only to pass away a short time later.
Despicable Dowd initially claimed to that it was Maria who was driving the car.
He eventually admitted being drunk, driving dangerously, having no license and not being insured.
On Friday he wasand also banned from driving for 15 years.
The mothers of both victims bravely gave victim impact statements and told how Dowd’s manic driving had changed their lives forever.
Kiara told Tracey she was going to meet college pal Maria for a drink. That was the last time she saw her alive.
Tragically, Tracey still blames herself for daughter’s death.
She added: “I should have told her to phone me, so I could collect her.
“I should have phoned her when I got home to make sure she was okay. I shouldn’t have made her start her new course in hospitality.
“I shouldn’t have ever moved her to Donegal.”
The family had decided to make that move to because where they lived in Dublin, was “getting rough and hazardous”.
She said: “We moved to Donegal. Kiara was not happy, but I told her it was a new life for us. I just wanted a better life for her and her brother.
“It was a hard move for all of us, but I thought at the time it was for the best.”
Tracy had been diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer and at seven months pregnant had a C-section so she could start chemotherapy straight away.
“It was a hard time for all of us, but we got through it as a family. I was given the all clear in January 2016.
It’s like something broke into my chest and just ripped out my heart
Tracey Baird
“I thought of the possibility of me dying and now I think now maybe it should have been me. I was the one who was sick, Kiara was full of life and was only starting to live.”
She added: “It’s like something broke into my chest and just ripped out my heart”.
“I can never tell her how sorry I am, or how much I love and miss her.
“I can never again just hug her and hold her, tell her how proud I am of her and how losing her has had a huge impact on our family and friends.”
Her motherly instincts and aching pain were echoed by Mary McGonagle, the mother of Maria Wallace.
She revealed how her first daughter had died of a cot death aged seven months.
“So when I gave birth to Maria, I poured every bit of love in my body on her,” she said.
She also revealed how Maria, a mum of three boys, battled cancer twice but will never see her sons grow up.
“My darling Maria will never see how well her boys are doing, she will never see them getting married and she will never hold any grandchildren in her arms,” she added.
Ms McGonagle said she was so proud when her daughter started college but now she wishes she never had.
“When she started college, I told her how proud I was of her every day but I also told her not to get used or to be taken for granted.
most read in news
“Now I wish she had never started college and she would still be here with me.
“I can no longer listen to music or watch things on TV that we used to watch together.
“All I do now is to stand by Maria’s grave and cry alone. On the day of my baby’s funeral, I would have given anything to keep her coffin in my room to be near her. I still wish I could,” she said.