Mother releases photos of disfigured son to show the horrors of drink driving

  • 16/07/2017
Kiernan Roberts.
Kiernan Roberts. Photo credit: Supplied

The mother of a boy who was almost killed by a drunk driver has shared shocking photos of her son's horrific injuries.

Marie Roberts wants other would-be drink drivers to understand the potential consequences of their dangerous behaviour.

English teenager Kiernan Roberts, 16, was cycling home from work at 11pm on October 7 when the accident occurred, reports the Grimsby Telegraph. The "star" student had lights on his bike, but that didn't stop 63-year-old Owen Finn from crashing his Mercedes into the sixth-former.

Kiernan Roberts.
Kiernan Roberts. Photo credit: Supplied

Finn had been drinking cocktails at a business event that evening. When he left, witnesses described him as "unsteady, wobbly, with altered speech", one going so far as to say he "couldn't stand up without holding onto the back of a chair".

After hitting Kiernan, Finn fled the scene, changing his clothes and driving to his mother's house in Birmingham.

Kiernan suffered a brain injury, and has required 24-hour care ever since.

"As a family we discussed releasing the images of Kiernan after the crash, and at first decided not to because once they are released you can't get them back," Ms Roberts told the Telegraph.

"But we want Finn to see what he has taken from Kiernan. We want him to see for himself what Kiernan has lost."

She says Kiernan has shown "sheer grit and determination" to get better, even if his dream of one day becoming a political journalist has been shattered.

Kiernan Roberts.
Kiernan Roberts. Photo credit: Supplied

"As a family we would often marvel at him when he was younger and wonder where his life would take him: medical school; parliament or political journalism; musician," his family said in a statement.

"Never did we contemplate his life and ours being so completely and irreversibly shattered in an instant. Our family was torn apart and laid bare as we watched our beautiful boy fight for his life; the most basic of functions taken from him."

Finn was jailed for three years on Friday (UK time), the sentencing judge calling him a "coward" and expressing concern he wasn't able to send Finn away for longer.

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