A community was in shock last weekend after the tragic deaths of two little boys – one Portuguese aged six and one Irish, aged five – in a freak quad bike accident. A third child – the seven-year-old brother of the Irish boy – remains seriously ill in hospital.
The accident happened when the bike, driven by an Englishman, is reported to have careered into a ditch on Friday evening in Casal Novo, Penela, projecting all three youngsters into the air. None of the boys was wearing a safety helmet.
The youngsters were enjoying a ride despite the fact that the father of the Portuguese child had apparently repeatedly told the Englishman that he did not want his son ever to travel on the man’s bike.
According to reports, the Englishman, named only as Robert, fled the scene, but was quickly detained afterwards by police. He is reported to have been slightly injured when the quad bike turned over after hurtling into the ditch and sending the children flying into the road.
In its graphic reports, Correio da Manhã describes how the man frequently took children on his bike, but had never before taken little Martim Antunes – the only child of a local PSP officer and his council employee wife.
Martim’s heartbroken aunt told reporters how Martim only went on the bike because he was playing with the two young Irish brothers, named as James and Bryan.
Eyewitnesses told the paper that all three children hit the road with force.
Martim died at the scene, while little James is reported to have needed reanimation twice at Coimbra’s children’s hospital before being pronounced brain-dead on Sunday. James’ elder brother Bryan is said to be in a “stable condition” with what doctors call “reserved prognosis”.
This latest quad bike tragedy comes in the wake of countless accidents involving adults and children in Portugal and UK. In New Zealand – where quad bikes are used on large farms and where there are at least 850 accidents a year – health and safety experts are forever warning about the perils, particularly when it comes to carrying young children as passengers.
As Bryan is cared for in hospital, the man described as Robert has appeared before magistrates and been released on the understanding that he remains at his place of residence and reports regularly to police.
