The sisters and brother of Adrian O’Kane, who was knocked down and killed by a drunk and stoned Majorcan driver in Magalluf at 3am on Sunday morning, arrived in Palma today looking for answers to what exactly happened.
Laurence and sisters Stephanie Price and Sonia Lochner, all younger than Adrian, flew into Palma to hire the services of a local lawyer. This is the first step in trying to find out what exactly happened and to also set the ball rolling in taking out a private legal case against the 39-year-old driver. He is currently on remand in Palma prison, with bail having been denied, awaiting a date for the court hearing for reckless homicide to be set. Adrian, who was yesterday described as a "real mummy’s boy", was on a stag weekend for his best friend whom he had known since they were five years old.
"He wasn’t a big drinker. In fact he didn’t really want to go and made the decision to join the party of 30 at the last minute. They were all about the same age and went out for a very civilised dinner on the Friday night," the family told the Bulletin.
"Our father died some 20 years ago and being the eldest he took over as the head of the family. Adrian was a real rock and still lives at home with mum and his brother - they worked together in construction," Stephanie explained.
"He was an extremely popular guy, especially amongst the Irish community because he had worked in Dublin and Northern Ireland, and dad was Irish. The fact that the fund we set up to raise money to cover the cost of the repatriation of his body, which is 8,000 euros, has to date raised 27,000 euros is a clear indication of just how popular he was and what he meant, still means, to people," Sonia said.
They will be flying back to the UK on Friday with Adrian’s body, and all the money left over will be given to his 13 and 15 year-old daughters. Adrian and his wife recently separated and the girls live with their mother in Dublin. It was she who broke the tragic news to their daughters.
"We are not worried about being awarded compensation by the court, no amount of money will ever bring Adrian back," Stephanie said. "We’re still in deep shock to be honest. It doesn’t feel real. Laurence was the last person to see Adrian before he headed off to work on Friday morning.
"This has torn us apart and the situation has not been helped by the fact that we’ve had no assistance or help from any of the authorities. We tried the British police, but obviously it’s not their jurisdiction, but the police here in Magalluf were unable to help us. No one was available who spoke English when we called in search of information. On the last occasion they hung up. And when the boys went to the police, they were not given any information on the grounds they were not family. Well, we are and we’re here but still none the wiser as to what exactly happened. All we know is what we’ve read in the papers and online," Stephanie said.
"We only found out when his best mate, whose stag weekend it was, phoned to tell us. We didn’t and still haven’t received any kind of official information or assistance. There are claims by the driver that Adrian was lying in the middle of the road but we don’t believe that. We know that the last the lads saw of him he was dancing and then he slipped away - to avoid having the mickey taken out of him - to go back to the hotel," Sonia said.
"What we want is for any eyewitnesses to please come forward with any information as to what they saw so we can piece together what happened to our brother. It could be the staff or owner of a bar he and the boys had been in, the taxi driver who called the police or fellow holidaymakers or local residents. Some of the CCTVs in the street may have even captured the incident on camera, anything. We want to know what happened to our brother," Sonia stressed.
This afternoon, after having seen their lawyer and given her power of attorney and been to the courts, the three then visited the scene of the fatal incident.
"We just want to be close to where Adrian was last alive and to pay our respects," Stephanie said.
Should anyone wish to contact the family in the strictest confidence please do so by contacting me at the Bulletin by phone or email: 971 788 412; HCarter@majorcadailybulletin.es.