Caoimhe’s Law: Antrim and Newtownabbey support for campaign urging bystanders not to exploit trauma of road tragedy
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has backed a motion seeking support for ‘Caoimhe’s Law’ and will write to Justice Minister Naomi Long and MLAs urging them to prioritise this legislation.
The motion was proposed at a council meeting by Antrim SDLP Councillor Roisin Lynch and seconded by Airport Independent Alderman Paul Michael BEM.
Caoimhe’s Law would make it a criminal offence to record or share images and videos of victims at the scene of a fatal or critical traffic collision without lawful authority or family consent; and calls on the Minister of Justice to work with the Minister for Infrastructure to pass legislation to this affect by the end of the Assembly’s current mandate.
Cllr Lynch told councillors it is named in memory of Caoimhe O’Brien, from Douglas Bridge, near Strabane, Co. Tyrone, who died in a single-vehicle collision on the A5 road. in October 2016. Cllr Lynch said footage of the tragedy appeared on social media before some of Caoimhe’s family had been informed.
Cllr Lynch stated: “No family should have to experience that additional pain.” She went on to say there is a trend of people recording and sharing images of fatalities and treating tragedy as “content”.
An online campaign by Caoimhe’s family urges bystanders not to exploit trauma stating: “When tragedy strikes, families deserve privacy, dignity, and compassion, not a camera in their faces, not their loved one’s final moments turned into headlines, not their grief broadcast across social media,” it states.
The online campaign is being backed by Road Victim Support Northern Ireland and Donegal, a charitable organisation which supports individuals, families and communities in the aftermath of fatal collisions.
It said: “Families who should have heard the news from compassionate officers at their door — but instead found out from a photo on Facebook, a video on Snapchat, or graphic footage shared in a WhatsApp group.
"In the chaos of trauma, families try to piece together what happened from a photograph – guessing, imagining, creating painful scenarios that may never be true. These images don’t provide answers. They create new wounds. This is added trauma, inflicted needlessly.
“We are calling for clear, enforceable boundaries: No images or videos of crash scenes, injured individuals, or fatal accidents should be published without prior approval from the PSNI."
Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter