ALMOST €30,000 HAS been raised for a man left in a vegetative state after a horrific scrambler crash.

The money was raised in just one day after people read about Ilabek Avetian’s situation in a number of newspapers yesterday.

Ilabek (39) suffered devastating brain injuries and lost his left eye after a scrambler bike crashed into him and his wife Anzhela Kotsinian while they were sunbathing in Darndale Park in Dublin on 9 June.

Speaking to journalist Laura Lynott in the Irish Independent, Anzhela (43) thanked people for their generosity.

“It is very hard for me to put into words how this has helped me today. From the morning when I looked online, I have not been able to stop crying.

“To know that so many Irish people wanted to help Ilabek and me has made me very happy. I cannot describe how this feels to know so many Irish people cared for us.”

Anzhela sustained a fractured pelvis in the crash and has stayed with her husband at Beaumont Hospital since the incident. The couple are originally from Armenia but had moved to Ireland to start a new life just weeks beforehand.

Legislation 

Speaking in the wake of the media coverage, Fianna Fáil TD John Curran said legislative action must be taken to curb the illegal use of all-terrain vehicles including scramblers and quad bikes in urban areas.

“Despite existing local authority by-laws that prohibit the illegal use of mechanically propelled vehicles in public areas, the gardaí have little or no authority to enforce these laws…

“As far as I am concerned the only meaningful solution would be to implement legislative change to clamp down on the improper use of scramblers and quads and the anti-social behaviour linked to it,” Curran said in a statement.