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Irish Trucker 01-13-04

Truck victim was a heroine
The 20-year-old German au pair who lost her life in Cork, while saving the life of her charge, has been hailed as a heroine, by the infant's parents. Nicole Naumberger, a law student from Koblenz in Germany died when she was crushed under the wheels of a lorry in Carrigaline. She died while freeing the trapped pram which contained 14-month old Maeve Bosteels McCarthy. The Bosteels McCarthy family issued a statement at the weekend saying they owed the life of their daughter to the courage of Nicole, who had just celebrated her 20th birthday last month. The driver of the truck was described as extremely traumatised at the scene and was treated for shock. He did not know there had been an accident until shock pedestrians signalled him to stop.

RTE Television 09-11-04

A jury has returned a verdict of accidental death in the case of a German au pair who died in Co Cork as she was struggling to pull a baby in a buggy from under a truck. Nicole Naumberger was pushing 13-month-old Maeve Bosteels in the buggy when the accident happened on Main Street, Carrigaline last February. The court was told that CCTV footage showed Nicole stopping to let a car onto the main road from the car park and, at the same time as she went to cross the entrance, a truck also began to exit the car park. The footage shows the pram getting caught under the front of the truck and, as Ms Naumberger wrestled to pull it free and tries to catch the driver's attention, the truck rolled over her and she was fatally injured. Conflicting evidence was given that a car on the main road had waved the driver of the truck on, but this was vehemently denied by the driver of the car. A garda expert told the court that during his examination of the truck after the accident he noticed seven cardboard boxes on the passenger seat, each measuring 12 inches by 18 inches. There was also a baseball hat on the dash on the left-hand side of the truck. In the garda's opinion, if these were in that position when the accident occurred, they would have obscured the driver's view. Investigating Garda Sergeant Jerry Lacey told the court that both front wheels of the buggy had been sheared off during the accident. Solicitor Fergal Dennehy said he was surprised that the driver of the truck, Eric Foley, had not been summonsed to attend the hearing. However, Coroner Frank O'Connell said he was satisfied that there was sufficient independent eyewitness evidence available to the court to work out what happened on the day. He added that he would not be asking for the driver's statement to be read into the court because there is nothing in it that would further the inquiry in any way. The jury of six men returned a verdict of accidental death having found that Ms Naumberger died as a result of severe head injuries which she sustained when she was rolled over by a truck. Mr O'Connell extended his deepest sympathies to the Naumberger family on what he described as 'the very tragic death of their daughter in extraordinary circumstances'. On behalf of the baby's parents, Mr Dennehy thanked the Naumberger family for 'Nicole's sacrifice in saving little Maeve'. A file on the accident was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions but he said there should be no prosecution in the case.