Crowds gathered in Tipperary on Saturday morning to bid farewell to a teenager who tragically lost his life in a road traffic collision last weekend. Callum Hutchinson, aged 16, from Borrisokane, died following a two-vehicle crash in Antrim on Sunday. April 26.
Emergency services attended the scene along the Belfast Road shortly before 8 am that morning following the collision between a black Volkswagen Golf and a silver Volkswagen Passat.
Callum was a passenger in the Paasat, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Two others were injured in the crash, including Christopher Faulkner, the 10-year-old cousin of Scarlett Faulkner. The child remains in critical condition, while the driver of the vehicle suffered minor injuries.
Callum’s funeral was held at St Peter and Paul’s church in Borrisokane on Saturday, with mourners donning blue t-shirts in memory of the teenager.
Callum Hutchinson died in a crash at Nutts Corner, Belfast, on Sunday morning(Image: Brendan Gleeson)
Three of Callum’s close friends placed jerseys on his coffin at the start of the mass, all signed by Callum’s classmates at the Community College in Borrisokane.
In his homily, Parish priest fr Tom O’Hallonan told Callum’s family that “our hearts go out to all of you today”.
“What I heard from the whole community here in Borrisokane is the feeling of being so sorry for all of you,” he said.
“The feeling of being brokenhearted for you all, and I know you are deeply appreciative of this outpouring of love and sympathy.”
Mourners carrying the coffin exit the church following the funeral mass Callum Hutchinson Funeral in Borrisokane(Image: Brendan Gleeson)
Father O’Hallonan added: “You have been getting through this awfully difficult week and you’ve coped well. You should probably give yourself credit for that as you’ve coped well in an awfully difficult situation.
“Your grief has been more heavily laden because of recent tragedy in your family.”
Father O’Hallonan told those gathered how Callum was described as a “happy child” by his parents, Michael and Lisa, and was “loved and liked by everyone in the community.”
Callum’s best friend Tommy delivered an emotional eulogy as he thanked the teen’s parents “for raising the most perfect son I could ask for,” adding that it “was a true honour to call him a brother.”
“It has been my greatest honour to know you Callum and to call you my brother,” he added. “Till we meet again, fly high brother I love you.”
Floral tributes were placed outside the church(Image: Brendan Gleeson)
Callum’s father, Michael, fought back tears as he paid tribute to his son, whom he described as “a happy child loved by many.”
“I stand before you all as Callum’s father. I’d like you to remember him as he was which was a happy child of 16-year-old who was taking out of this world too soon,” he said.
“I want everyone to know he had a happy 16 years. He was a happy child loved by many. Everyone had great respect for him and he had great respect for everybody else. He was well-mannered and never got in trouble.
“Fly high my boy. I know you are in the hands of God now and we will see you again when the time is right.”
Following the funeral mass, Callum was laid to rest in the adjoining Cemetery.
A 29-year-old man has been taken into custody following the fatal crash and has since been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, along with a number of additional offences.
Tiernan McCann, from Flax Street in Belfast, is charged with causing the death of Callum Hutchinson by driving dangerously and carelessly on the Belfast Road at Nutts Corner on April 26 this year. The 29-year-old is also charged with causing grievous bodily injury, also by dangerous and careless driving.
He is further charged with driving while unfit through drink or drugs, driving at excess speed, using his mobile phone while driving and having an incorrect form of registration mark, alleged to have been committed on the same date.