A young girl who survived a fatal car crash in Longford is suing her father who owned the BMW and her mother who was subsequently jailed for dangerous driving.

The court has heard 12-year-old Faith Carberry was critically injured when the car hit an embankment in Edgeworthstown in July 2007 claiming the lives of her sister Ava and a friend 9-year-old Michaela Logan.

She is also suing the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland.

Tommy Varden told the court the mother of his 2 daughters phoned and told him “Ava is dead and I think Faith is dead too”.

The woman Mary Carbery – a chronic alcoholic living in Kilcock, Co. Kildare – who was subsequently jailed for 4 years for dangerous driving having got into the BMW after drinking and while banned from the roads.

Mr. Varden who is a successful businessman said she lay beside their dead daughter in the mortuary at Mullingar Hospital and told him she would shoot herself if she had a gun to which he retorted ‘If I’d a gun, I’d do it for you’.

Their then 8-year-old daughter Faith has survived the tragic accident but is now suing both her parents for damages through her grandfather.

Tommy Varden admits being the owner of the BMW but denies giving consent to Mary Carberry to drive the car.