NEW ROSS haulage firm, Nolan Transport, will find out later this month what penalty it will receive in relation to its involvement in an accident that resulted in two young mothers losing their lives.

During the accident the tractor unit of a truck belonging to the company collided with a car while a load of steel coils being pulled on a trailer behind the lorry impacted with two other vehicles. A fourth vehicle had to take evasive action.

The company pleaded guilty in relation to the matter on December 18, 2012, and last week the case went before Judge Raymond Fulham for sentencing at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court. The court heard the company never apologised to the victims’ families.

However, the Managing Director of the company, Patricia Nolan, was in court and offered an apology to the families of Vanessa McGarry and Mary Lonergan who both lost their lives in the accident which occurred at Stroan, Kilfanewest, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, on July 19, 2007.

The judge heard heart-wrenching victim impact statements from the husbands of the two deceased women, Michael Lonergan, and former Kilkenny senior hurling star, James McGarry.

Both men gave poignant tributes to their wives and highlighted the enormous impact their loss had on their families.

Mr. Lonergan said that his life, and that of his children and extended family, were destroyed by the accident.

“It breaks my heart to look at them [and] the one thing they want, their mother, is missing,” he said.

Holding back tears Mr. Lonergan continued: “In some ways we have lost our home. Gone is the heart of the home.”

Mr. McGarry’s tribute to his wife was equally emotional and he highlighted the fact they only got married seven months prior to the accident.

“Vanessa, was a wonderful, caring mother, wife, sister and daughter,” he said.

“We got married in January that year,” he added.

“To witness the carnage caused by Nolan Transport that morning is something I will never forget.”

After hearing the victim impact statements and mitigating evidence from Counsel for Nolan Transport, Judge Fulham said he would reserve penalty until February 25. (For the full story see this week’s print edition of The Echo)