Community in 'huge shock' following death of student in Mayo crash

An 18-year-old who died following a road traffic accident this Wednesday, March 13, has caused shockwaves to ripple throughout his local community.

Kacper Swierkowski was a secondary school student in nearby Davitt College, Castlebar, Co Mayo and worked in a local sports shop. 

A past student of St Patrick’s NS, he was the son of Polish parents, Robert and Jola, who have been living in the area for several years. His father works locally as a plumber. He also had two brothers, Patryk and David.

Mr Swierkowski died following a collision involving a motorbike at Cloonkeen near Castlebar on the R309 at approximately 5pm. No other vehicle was involved. 

Local county councillor Ger Deere described his passing as ‘a terrible tragedy’.

Former Castlebar town councillor and local election candidate, Harry Barrett, said there was ‘huge shock’ in Castlebar following his passing.

Gardaí are appealing to any witnesses of the collision to come forward.

Additionally, road users with camera footage, including dash-cam recordings, who were in the vicinity at the time are urged to provide this footage to investigating Gardaí.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Castlebar Garda Station at 094 903 8200, the garda confidential line at 1800 666 111, or any garda station.

A GoFundMe page set up to help pay for the costs of his funeral has raised over €16,000.