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A LIMERICK FAMILY whose stolen car featured in the social media posts of one of the boys who died in the M9 crash on Sunday has said that gardaí told them TikTok videos rarely stand up as evidence in court, and as a result little could be done.

Peter’s daughter’s car was stolen on the afternoon of 27 December last year, from where it was parked in a housing estate on the southern side of Limerick.

The vehicle was a Toyota Vitz – one of the Japanese import cars that have been targeted in the recent spate of car thefts in Ireland.

He says that he showed gardaí videos from multiple TikTok accounts in which his daughter’s car was visible, including its licence plate, which appeared to be owned by a number of identifiable teenage boys, including Kamil Pustkowski, one of the five boys who died in the crash on the M9 on Sunday.

Gardaí said that a suspect was never identified in relation to the incident so no investigation “can be progressed”.

Former Garda Commissioner Patrick Leahy has said that a “statement of intent” now needs to be made by the government which outlines necessary legislative changes and a multi-agency action plan that will change how joyriding gangs, reckless driving, and social media clips of illegal acts are treated going forward.

“Regardless of what these firms say about their policies, it should be the case that it is illegal for them to host posts that showcase stolen vehicles or show thefts in action, or reckless driving like we’ve seen,” he said.

Leahy added that the government needs to “take the power back” from social media companies, and also needs to crack down on those who encourage illegal acts in comment sections.

He added that a special operation was put in place to tackle an epidemic of car thefts at the time, but that with the role of social media meaning that those participating can compete online, today’s landscape is different.

Leahy said that in his view an examination is needed into the “evidential value” of TikTok videos when it comes to prosecuting people for the crimes they portray, so gardaí on the ground understand “what additional evidence we would need to proceed with a prosecution”.

He added that this must be preceded by making sure that uploading the videos is itself an offence.

Peter said that the theft itself was witnessed by someone who lived in the housing estate.

“It was in the middle of the day, a guy jumped out of a car that pulled up and smashed the window, and shortly after the car was gone. She rang me once she’d realised in a state of panic, and we called the gardaí,” he explained.

Peter said that despite their home being less than a mile from Roxboro garda station, it took hours for the gardaí to turn up, and that when they did arrive they informed the family that gardaí were aware of cars being raced around Limerick that day.

That night the family found videos of the car being posted all over TikTok, including on Pustkowski’s account.

A post from an account with the name ‘Kamil’, which featured photos and videos the teenager was identifiable in, shows two teenagers wearing balaclavas perched on top of Peter’s daughter’s car, while another masked male is standing on top of another car, holding what appears to be a wrench in the air.

The post is captioned: “No better crew”.

Pustkowski’s post tags another boy who attended the same secondary as him, Mungret School. In a separate post from that account, Peter’s daughter’s car is also visible, while a caption put over a video reads: “Fuck the Police I’ll dust them”.

A video from the account ‘@limerickonthemap’ shows boys sitting in two cars in the location where this family’s car was parked, with one masked youth shown hot-wiring the vehicle.

The family went to the gardaí on the 30th and gave statements in relation to the social media posts.

“We were told that gardaí were aware of the posts, but that TikTok videos rarely stand up as evidence in court, and that the chances of there being a conviction and a bed available at Oberstown at the same time were extremely slim. We didn’t hear from them again after that,” he said.

Peter explained that he considered going to the houses of one of the boys himself – as he knew where they lived – but that gardaí advised him against doing so.

He was also aware that one of the accounts tagged in the videos featuring his daughter’s car had a family connection to a well known Limerick crime figure.

“I didn’t want to put my daughter at risk. But I followed the accounts since then, and it’s clear that some of these kids were doing this every week, and in particular Kamil Pustkowski was very active, I couldn’t believe how much evidence there was of cars being stolen and that they were able to keep doing it without repercussions,” he said.

The car turned up written off and abandoned a few days later.

When they saw the news that Pustkowski had died in the M9 crash, believed to have been stolen, they felt “sad”, but also angered that more couldn’t be done to tackle this behaviour sooner.

“In many ways someone getting hurt was inevitable. It’s very sad. The resources aren’t there for gardaí to be able to prosecute this kind of behaviour when it comes to juveniles,” he said.

He added that Pustkowski appeared to have had a “hard life” and had dropped out of school after the Junior Cert.

The Journal understands that multiple teenage boys who took part in car thefts carried out by these gangs have faced prosecution and have served time in Oberstown. 

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