The day we lost our little boy

PAUL GALLAGHER senior was celebrating his 38th birthday on the day his son was fatally injured.

Mr Gallagher, wife Andrea and children Heather, Andrew and Paul, were relaxing on the Atlantis Resort beach in Paradise Island, the Bahamas, when tragedy struck.

Mr Gallagher, now aged 41, was close to the ocean's edge, playing in the sand with daughter Heather, then five-years-old.

Mrs Gallagher was lying in a deckchair some feet further up the beach next to one-year-old Andrew, who was sitting in his buggy.

Two-year-old Paul was also next to his mother, sleeping in a deckchair.

Mrs Gallagher said: "Paul was a very lively little boy. He'd been digging on the beach that morning and then had fallen asleep.

"My last memory of him is of him giving me a big smile and then he fell asleep."

Mr Gallagher said: "As Heather was digging I looked up and out to sea. I suddenly saw a 20ft speedboat up in the air around 20ft from the water's edge heading straight towards us.

"I instinctively picked up Heather and threw her out of the way and then immediately dived out of the way myself.

"As I looked around, I saw Andrea, who had just managed to throw herself forward and out of the way."

The boat struck Mrs Gallagher on her legs, severely bruising her and then hit Andrew's buggy, throwing it and him 20ft into the air.

Miraculously he survived with no injuries.

The boat then sailed over little Paul's deckchair, its propeller splitting his head open before it came to rest 60ft away from the shore.

A witness to the accident told a Bahamas inquest he saw the speedboat towing a banana boat of tourists before the accident.

The witness, whose son was on board the banana boat, alleged the driver put the boat into full throttle to stop it blowing towards the tourists who had fallen into the sea.

Then, it is claimed the 200 horsepower boat took off with such power, the driver lost control, fell backwards, and was unable to reach the wheel as it made its fatal journey to the beach.

At the 2004 Bromley inquest into Paul's death, Mrs Gallagher tearfully described how the boat's propeller had "chopped and chopped" at her son's head.

The grieving mother also told how she found her son Paul surrounded by three American tourists who were medical professionals.

She said: "Paul had a towel on his head. His head had been split open and I could see his brain was exposed, I only wish you people could have seen what I'd seen."

Mercifully, Paul had lost consciousness by the time the ambulance arrived 30 minutes later to transport him to the Nassau Doctors Hospital where he was treated by a brain surgeon.

Mr Gallagher said: "In hospital the surgeon immediately told us little Paul's head injuries were the worst he had ever seen.

"He had tears in his eyes as he explained Paul had less than a one per cent chance of pulling through."

The Gallaghers claim police harassed them for a statement as their son underwent three hours of emergency surgery.

Mr Gallagher was able to provide only a few words and later insisted on giving a full statement.

The injured boy survived his three-hour operation, despite suffering three heart attacks whilst on the operating table.

Mrs Gallagher said: "The surgeon told us that if somehow Paul managed to get through all of this, at best he would be very severely brain damaged and his life would be not worth living.

"He told us he would be better off passing away without any further pain or suffering.

"We were both in shock and did not hear his words did not want to hear his words. We prayed for a miracle."

Paul's devoted parents kept a bedside vigil by their son for five days.

The toddler fought hard for his life and improved gradually, until on August 18, hospital staff told the family plans were being made to transfer him to the Miami Children's Hospital in Florida.

Mr Gallagher said: "In hospital we were constantly watching machine numbers and seeing poor little Paul with terrible bruising, his head the size of an adult's head.

"We continued to talk to him in the hope he would somehow pull through, but despite our prayers and visits by priests his injuries were too much for him."

Paul eventually slipped away on August 20, five days after the accident.

As the devastated family prepared to leave the island, they were told an autopsy would have to be carried out on their son's body.

Mr Gallagher said: "Myself and Andrea went to the British High Commissioner and met with the pathologist.

"He spoke to us and held Andrea's hand and told us all he had to do was make a one-inch incision to ensure all Paul's organs were intact.

"When Andrea's brother John returned home with little Paul's body on August 28, he was met with our undertakers who checked the body there and then told John all his organs had been removed.

"I cannot put into words the way myself and Andrea felt. I will have to let you make your own mind up."

The family say they have still not been given an explanation as to why their son's organs were removed.

Sol Kerzner, the South African billionaire, who owns the Atlantis Resort where Paul was killed, has described the incident as a "freaky accident".

The lifeguards on duty at the time maintain the Gallaghers ignored whistle warnings as the boat headed for shore.

But Mrs Gallagher was the only member of the family to have heard a whistle and says by that point the boat was already touching the sand.

The family say they have also spoken to six independent witnesses at the scene of the accident, none of whom recall hearing the whistle.

Mr Gallagher said: "The most important thing is myself and Andrea have had fingers pointed at us, blaming us for what happened.

"That is wrong, that is incredibly wrong.

"No words can possibly describe the anger and pain we are suffering and now we have a life sentence without our sonwe certainly hope no other family ever has to suffer as much as we have.

"Our boy lost his battle to survive and our lives are now destroyed.

"We battle away each day for the sake of Andrew and Heather, what we will tell them we do not know.

"We hope for God's strength and guidance, that somehow we will get through all of this and our remaining children do not suffer as we do."

The Gallagher family still find it too painful to visit Paul's grave and have not been able to put up a headstone.

Support News Shopper's campaign to get Justice for Paul and let this dignified family mourn properly for their cherished son and brother.