Husband left in vegetative state after motorbike landed on him and his wife as they sunbathed in the park
Anzhela Kotsinian, 43, and Ilabek Avetian, 39, had only just moved to Dublin when the nightmare unfolded in June
A HUSBAND was left in a vegetative state after a motorbike landed on him and his wife as they sunbathed in a park.
Anzhela Kotsinian, 43, and Ilabek Avetian, 39, had only just moved to Dublin, Ireland, to start a new life when they were struck by the motorbike in a local park.
Anzhela said: “It ran over us and over my pelvis. I immediately thought of my husband. He had his head on my legs and I couldn’t hear a sound from him.”
The couple were in Darndale Park on Saturday, June 9, when the horror unfolded.
The former teacher had been enjoying the warm weather, sunbathing with her roofer husband when a scrambler was driven over the brow of a hill — landing on the couple.
Ilabek lost his left eye, suffered multiple facial fractures, including a fracture of the forehead bones.
His nasal bones were fractured and his jaw bone and he had suffered a severe brain injury and haemorrhage.
Ilabek was placed on a ventilator and a cranial pressure monitor was inserted. Doctors found he had suffered “severe traumatic brain injury” causing “severe neurological deficit”.
Ilabek has been in a vegetative state in Beaumont Hospital, north , ever since. Anzhela said: “No one is answering for this, how can this happen?”
In Ireland, there is no legislation to prevent scrambler bikes being driven through public parks.
Only local authority by-laws cover these incidents and Anzhela feels more has to be done by the State to stop this activity.
She said: “We came to Ireland, from Lithuania, to begin a new life. We wanted to have a child, to buy a home in Ireland, we were discussing our plans that day.
“We decided to lie down in the park, as it was a warm, sunny day but after lying down for 10 minutes, the motorbike ran over us.
“I didn’t understand what had happened. I suddenly heard a motorbike and then it ran over us and over my pelvis.
“I was in so much shock, I can’t describe it in words, I just cried and shouted ‘help help help’.
“The motorbike had ran over my husband and crushed his face. Some workers nearby came to help us and we were taken to hospital.”
In June, Irish police said a 16-year-old boy was helping them with their enquiries but officers have confirmed almost three months later — and as Ilabek clings to life — that no arrests have been made.
Meanwhile Anzhela, whose pelvis was fractured during the incident, is holding a daily vigil by her husband’s bedside without any State financial assistance to help her pay rent and live in Ireland.
The rent for the room the couple had both stayed in until the incident costs £670 a month and she pays an extra £110 in bills.
Anzhela and Ilabek’s families are sending money to help keep her afloat while he is cared for in hospital.
But as well as his life-changing injuries being her primary concern, Anzhela is anxious how long she can afford to live in Dublin.
She said: “We were talking about shopping that day, about what we would eat, it was an ordinary day, but we also talked about our future.
“I said I liked Ireland and we decided we wanted to stay. My husband had lived here before and he liked Ireland.
“We decided this country loves us, we love this country and we’ll stay here, buy a home, make a life, have children. We had a lot of plans.
“But now I’ve lost my husband and I’m losing more and more of him with each day.”
Anzhela and Ilabek had been undergoing IVF in Armenia in a bid to have a child and they’d hoped to try again in Ireland but “we ran out of time,” she said.
“I feel very, very alone. I think of the hurt that has happened to us in Ireland. I feel no one has helped me since my husband was hurt.
“I can’t work here to support myself. I don’t have papers to work, I was also injured and I have to come to see my husband in hospital every day.
“I need financial support while I’m here but I’ve had none and my family back home and my husband’s are having to send money over, so I can stay here to be near him.
“But now every time I see him, he gets worse and worse. I can’t see how this story will have a good end. The doctors can’t help him improve.”
"Our plans were to build a life, have children, to work hard, to start a business and everything we planned was connected with Ireland."
Anzhela Kotsinian
Anzhela said Beaumont Hospital doctors are considering transferring her husband to Lithuania where only his father lives. She added: “We haven’t a home in Lithuania or Russia either, where I have citizenship.
“We were trying to start our lives here in Ireland before this happened. Our plans were to build a life, have children, to work hard, to start a business and everything we planned was connected with Ireland.
“In Lithuania there is nothing for us. I want to stay in Ireland, I want my husband to stay in Ireland but it’s hard for me to stay here on my own without any support.
“And in October, I’ll be 44. I’m not so young to find a new job after all this, to restart my life.”
Anzhela said: “All I have left of my husband is his wedding ring.”
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A Garda spokeswoman said no arrests had been made and that the investigation is continuing.
When the Department of Justice was told that Anzhela wants to see the driving of scramblers made illegal in parks, a spokesman said: “The Department is currently reviewing appropriate criminal justice legislation to ensure that Gardai have the necessary powers at their disposal to deal with the misuse of scramblers and quad bikes.”
A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help Anzhela stay by her husband’s side. If you would like to donate, visit .
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