A CORK WOMAN who lost her family due to the actions of a suicidal driver has helped the gardaí with part of their training course.

Elber Twomey and husband Con were travelling in a car in Torquay  in 2012 with their 16-month-old son Oisín when it was hit by a vehicle driven at speed by Marek Wojciechowski.

Con, Oisín, and the couple’s unborn daughter Elber Marie all died as a result of the crash, and Elber sustained life-threatening injuries.

It later emerged that Wojciechowski had left a suicide note before he left on his journey.

The UK Independent Police Complaints Commission investigated the situation and found that an officer involved in the pursuit of Wojciechowski was not at fault. However, Twomey pointed out that Devon police have since changed their practice when dealing with suicidal motorists.

Raising awareness

Elber Twomey has been heavily involved in raising awareness about the issues around these situations, and now she has helped with garda training.

A garda spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that An Garda Síochána has met with Elber Twomey and continues to work on improving its expertise in this area.

He said that training is being provided to garda members with ASIST suicide intervention training and that this training is provided in the garda training programe. ASIST is also provided as part of the BA in applied policing.

Elber Twomey will appear on the Saturday Night Show on RTE tonight.

Helplines

• Samaritans: 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org
• Console: 1800 247 247 (Suicide prevention, self-harm, bereavement)
• Aware: 1890 303 302 (Depression, anxiety)
• Pieta House: 01 601 0000 or email mary@pieta.ie (Suicide, self-harm, bereavement)
• Teen-Line Ireland: 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)

Read: ‘I have forgiven him’ – Cork woman opens up about crash that killed her young family>