The close-knit community in Doneraile this week rallied round the parents of four-year-old Kathleen O’Brien who was tragically killed in a road traffic accident at the weekend. The single-vehicle collision occurred on the N20 Cork to Mallow Road at Knocknabehy on Saturday afternoon at around ten minutes past four when the family’s Ford van skidded and crashed into a ditch.

The parents and their two young daughters were rushed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where, despite desperate efforts by accident and emergency department doctors to save her, the four-year-old was pronounced dead. Her parents were treated for minor injuries while the second child, who’s aged five, was kept in hospital for treatment. She was discharged in the following days and was present with her parents at the funeral of her little sister which took place on Tuesday with Mass of the Angels at St Mary’s Church, Mallow, followed by burial in St Gobnait’s Cemetery, Mallow.

The young couple live in Oliver Plunkett Place in Doneraile and have links with Mallow.

Gardai are appealing for witnesses to the collision to contact them at Gurranabraher Garda Station on 021-4946200, on the Garda confidential telephone line 1800 666 111 or any garda station.

Cork County Council refused this week to comment on speculation that melted tar on the road caused by the current heatwave conditions may have contributed to the crash. “We don’t comment on any individual cases. Because this was a fatal road traffic accident it is a Garda matter. We do however carry out an inspection of road conditions at the scene of any serious accident and that’s being done in this case,” a county council spokesperson told The Avondhu. Garda forensic collision investigators examined the road in the aftermath of the crash.