Heartbroken boyfriend of girl, 18, who was killed in horror crash with her brother and two friends tells how he ran to scene after receiving final Snapchat message from her
- Aaron Costin said he had been tracking Grace Sweeney’s location on Snapchat
- He says that he ran to the scene after learning that a car had crashed in Hillview
The heartbroken boyfriend of an 18-year-old girl who was killed in a horror crash with her brother and two friends reveals how he ran to the scene after receiving a final Snapchat message from her.
Grace McSweeney was killed in County Tipperary, Ireland on Friday after the car she was travelling in struck a wall and overturned in Clonmel. She, her brother Luke, 24, and friends Zoey Coffey and Nicole Murphy, both 18, all died at the scene.
Her boyfriend Aaron Costin, 18, said he had been tracking her location on Snap Map when he learned that a car had crashed in Hillview.
‘I was like, that’s her road. I ran from one side of the town over as quick as I could but I couldn’t get up because the guards had it all blocked off,’ he told The Sunday Times, adding: ‘There was something in me that didn’t want to believe it was their car but I could see the car and then I knew what it was. It was hard.’
Aaron, who had been dating Grace for two years, also revealed that he had received a Snap from the 18-year-old before she got in the car that night.
Grace McSweeney’s boyfriend Aaron Costin (pictured with Grace on his right) revealed how he ran to the scene of the crash after receiving a final Snapchat message from her
Aaron said he had been tracking Grace’s location on Snap Map when he learned that a car had crashed in Hillview. He said: ‘I was like, that’s her road. I ran from one side of the town over as quick as I could but I couldn’t get up because the guards had it all blocked off.’ The overturned car is pictured at the scene of the crash
Grace McSweeney, 18, (left) was killed in County Tipperary, Ireland on Friday after the car she was travelling in struck a wall and overturned in Clonmel. Her brother Luke McSweeney, 24, (right) was driving Grace and two friends to a bus that would take them to Carlow to celebrate their Leaving Certificate results when the crash occurred
Grace’s friends Nicole Murphy (left) and Zoey Coffey, both 18, were also killed in the crash. Aaron said he met Grace through Zoey (right)
Aaron last saw Grace on Thursday, the day before the Leaving Cert results were released, the newspaper reported.
He claimed that Grace asked to meet up with him because she had been ‘stressing about her exams’. The pair went to Carey’s Castle where they walked and talked for nearly two hours.
Aaron, who is a programmer at an engineering factory, said that Grace had been ‘studying 12 hours a day, non-stop’ before she sat her exams. He also claimed that she was ‘still undecided’ about what she wanted to do after secondary school.
The crash happened on Friday night as Luke drove the girls to a bus that would take the girls to Carlow to celebrate their Leaving Certificate results.
Aaron said he met Grace at a party hosted by Zoey, who also died in the crash. He said meeting her was one of the ‘happiest days of my life’.
He said that Grace helped to bring him from a ‘very low point’ and hailed her as ‘one of the greatest women’ he had ever met.
He said she was ‘bubbly’, ‘friendly’ and supportive of everyone she cared for.
Aaron added that her family, who he says made their home ‘very welcoming’, have been ‘so supportive’ since the accident.
Dozens of bouquets have been left at the wall near the entrance to Loreto Secondary School, where Nicole had attended, which is around the corner from the scene of the crash
People comfort each other ahead of a vigil in Kickham Plaza, Co Tipperary today
A bouquet of flowers was left in remembrance of Nicole with a note hailing her as ‘truly an angel’
People attend a vigil in Kickham Plaza, Co Tipperary in memory of the four young adults who were killed in a car crash on Friday night
People approached the wall of flowers in groups, comforting each other today as they come to terms with the scale of the loss
Aaron’s heartbreak has been echoed across the town as locals are struggling to make sense of the accident, which they are referring to as its worst tragedy in living memory.
Dozens of bouquets have been left at the wall near the entrance to Loreto Secondary School, where Nicole had attended, which is around the corner from the scene of the crash.
Young people approached the wall of flowers in groups, comforting each other as they come to terms with the scale of the loss.
This morning, Nicole’s classmates gathered for a service to remember the four young people who had lost their lives. A similar service was held in Presentation Secondary School, where Grace and Zoey had attended.
After the Mountain Road reopened this morning, locals began leaving flowers at the scene of the crash, on a corner of a narrow road that leads to the Hillview Sports Club.
Shards of glass from a car window were seen in the crevices of the stone wall, now adorned with flowers, notes and candles.
People attend a vigil in Kickham Plaza, Co Tipperary, in memory of Luke McSweeney, 24, his 18-year-old sister Grace McSweeney, Zoey Coffey and Nicole Murphy, both also 18, who died while on the way to celebrate exam results after the car they were travelling in struck a wall and overturned in Clonmel on Friday
Pupils from the class of 2023 from Clonmel Presentation Secondary School, attend a vigil in Kickham Plaza, Co Tipperary
Four individual flowers and candles are seen amongst tributes left near the scene in Clonmel, Co Tipperary
People pulled their cars over and stood in front of the flower display, blessing themselves and paying their respects to the four young lives lost.
Locals Christine Mulcahy and Christina Whelan said they do not remember a tragedy this bad in Clonmel before.
‘Not that bad, this is the first tragedy that bad,’ 92-year-old Ms Mulcahy said, adding it was ‘an awful pity’.
‘To go out and enjoy yourself and end up in a coffin. It’s terrible, isn’t it. Dreadful.’
She said a relative of hers who was in school with one of the Leaving Cert students has been left speechless by the tragedy.
Ms Whelan said the weather was very bad on the night, and that the parents of Luke and Grace McSweeney live ‘only up the road’.
Emergency services continued cleanup work yesterday at the scene in Clonmel, Co Tipperary where four young people died in a car crash on Friday night
A woman leaves flowers near to the scene of a fatal crash which claimed the lives of Luke McSweeney, 24, his sister Grace McSweeney, Zoey Coffey and Nicole Murphy, all aged 18
Messages and flowers have been left near the scene in Clonmel, Co Tipperary
She said: ‘Their parents are living up there, they’ll have to pass (the site of the crash) every day of the week.’
Catherine, who is from Co Galway, said her daughter got married in Clonmel on Friday night and the family were celebrating in Hillview, located on the other side of the wall.
‘To think we were over there celebrating,’ she said, adding that the news filtered through to the guests around midnight.
‘It’s so sad.’
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