The parents of a Dublin child killed after the car she was travelling in was hit by a truck said last night that they were extremely happy that justice had finally prevailed.
Anthony and Nina O'Reilly were speaking after a truck driver was convicted of dangerous driving causing the death of Jade O'Reilly in July 2002.
The four-year-old twin from Skerries, Co Dublin, was killed at a busy junction outside the Co Limerick village of Adare as she was returning home from a family holiday in Killarney.
Vincent Ryan (56) with an address at Dunemer Drive, Lusk, Co Dublin, and formerly of Rivervalley, Swords, was found guilty by a jury at Limerick Circuit Court last night.
The jury of eight men and three women returned the unanimous guilty verdict after three hours of deliberations.
During the two-day trial, evidence was heard that Jade was travelling in the back seat of her grandmother's car with her twin sister Erin when the Opel Astra was hit by a truck.
Mrs Connie O'Reilly told the court that as she was approaching Adare she was conscious of a truck driving "too close" to her.
Mrs O'Reilly said that when she turned around a bend heading towards a junction outside Adare she saw the lorry coming "flying around the bend".
"I put my hand up to my face I knew the lorry was going to hit me fast," she said.
"He just hit me very hard. When I was hit I was knocked unconscious, I could hear screeching in my head and I was completely knocked out," she added.
The jury heard medical evidence that when a doctor arrived at the scene Jade was not moving and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Following last night's guilty verdict, Judge Carroll Moran, adjourned sentencing until May 12th.