Antrim: 'I had to learn to walk again after hit and run crash'

When Fiona Gill was struck by a van she was left with a shattered pelvis, two broken vertebrae and a broken leg.

The mother of two said she still wakes up in pain every day.

"It was two major surgeries, four months in a wheelchair, and I had to learn to walk again," she said.

Antrim GAA footballer Kavan Keenan, who was driving the van in October 2024, was recently handed a nine month suspended prison sentence and a 12 month driving ban.

Speaking for the first time since the crash, McGill recounted her injuries and the painful recovery.

"My hip needed pinned, my pelvis was shattered, they pulled a piece of car bumper out of my thigh which had cut my muscle away," she said.

"The pain was horrendous because I had injuries on every side. The nurses had to turn me [in my bed] and the pain was excruciating."

McGill's relatives had to take care of her young boys while she was recovering.

"I spent five weeks in hospital, so my sisters had to take a child each. I had to essentially parent from my hospital bed.

"My eldest was doing his GCSEs so the impact on him has been significant."

Keenan left the scene and initially denied driving the vehicle after the crash in Martinstown, County Antrim, but changed his plea one month before he was due to go on trial.

The 27-year-old from Millfield in Ballymena admitted injuring the woman by careless driving and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.

He also admitted to driving without insurance and failing to report an accident.

The footballer's father was given a community service order for trying to take the blame .

Asked about the sentence Keenan received, McGill said elements of it were incredibly disappointing.

"In terms of his driving, he should have got a bigger ban and he should be retested again," she said.

"I wouldn't want his children, or his child, to go through what my children went through, having their parent taken away.

"But I feel like his lack of remorse throughout this whole process needed more of a punishment."

The judge said there were a number of aggravating factors in the case against Keenan, including his failure to identify himself as the driver at the time.

During sentencing, the judge said "a common theme" in the character references was Keenan's remorse, and he also highlighted the defendant's contribution to his community.

McGill disagrees and said she feels his "remorse is only for himself".

"He has shown me no remorse," she said. "Our barrister said in court there had been none shown."

McGill said she was speaking now because she wanted people to know the true impact of the crash.

"Different people in my community would ask me how my leg was. The truth was it was so much more.

"I wake up every day in pain. It has completely changed my life."

You can hear Fiona McGill's interview in full on BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra at 17:00 BST.

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