The heartbroken mother of the Limerick teenager killed in the horror M9 crash just over a week ago has insisted that the ‘lost boy’ was not the leader of the gang involved in the head-on collision, which also resulted in the deaths of four others.
In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, Emilia Pustkowska also revealed she had appealed to a judge for her son Kamil, 17, to be placed in custody after he pleaded guilty to some offences just weeks before the crash – but the case was adjourned due to the State solicitors’ strike.
Kamil and four other teenagers – Jack Kennedy, 17, Jeremy O’Brien, 18, Joe Carthy, 15, and 16–year–old Alex McCarthy – died when the car in which they were travelling was driven the wrong way down the M9 motorway in the early hours of last Sunday.
A child and three women from the same family, who were in the other car, are still being treated for serious injuries in hospital.
A vigil in support of Ella Hendricken, Niamh Kinsella and Alma Kinsella, as well as Alma’s seven-year-old son Yemi, took place in Carlow on Friday evening, just hours after the funerals of Kamil, Joe Carthy and Alex McCarthy.
The horrific collision – apparently driven by a social-media craze – sent shockwaves throughout the country. It also sparked a hate-fuelled online backlash against the teenagers involved in the collision and their families.
Several reports identified Kamil as the ‘leader’ of the gang.
Looking at coverage of the vigil on Friday evening, Ms Pustkowska, an accountant, told the MoS she is ‘so sorry’ for the families of the innocent victims of the crash.
She is aggrieved at the criticism that has been directed at her as a parent.
The heartbroken mother of the Limerick teenager killed in the horror M9 crash has insisted that the ‘lost boy’ was not the leader of the gang that was involved in the head–on collision
‘You even can’t say sorry to the family, the others from the other car, because the people will eat you.’
And she insisted it is unfair to place all the blame on her son.
She told the MoS: ‘I know he wasn’t [the leader]. He wasn’t able to lead himself. So how was he the leader? We know that. He was lost… not the leader.’
Ms Pustkowska also said gardaí have told her Kamil was not the driver of the BMW car he was travelling in.
‘He was involved… but it was not all him. The house burglaries and all that… I don’t know. Maybe he was involved in them but he never had any charges for this.
‘They blame Kamil for everything at the moment. He did what he did, OK… I don’t know what the reason is. But why blame only him? There were five of them together.’
Ms Pustkowska, who is divorced from Kamil’s father, Adam Pustkowski, said her son was diagnosed as autistic and always struggled to find friends.
Though she freely admits his crimes, she believes he was a vulnerable person who was preyed upon and used by others.
‘He knew that he was not doing a good thing,’ she said. ‘The problem was he couldn’t say no to them. That’s called grooming. They are actually picking on people like him.’
She said the court appearances her son was involved on all took place in the past 12 months.
‘It’s not like he was five, seven years robbing the cars. [The court cases were all] after October 2025.’
Three sisters from the same family – Ella Hendricken, Niamh Kinsella and Alma Kinsella – who were in the other car, are being treated for serious injuries in hospital
A TikTok video posted by Kamil Pustkowska showing other members of the gang
Alex McCarthy, 16, died when the car in which he was travelling was driven the wrong way down the M9 motorway
She also outlined her frustration at the justice system and revealed she had appealed for her son – who had pleaded guilty to various offences – to be taken into custody.
‘Every single court case I was there,’ she said. ‘I was three times in Limerick. I was five times in Dublin. Not because there was something new happening… it was always postponed.’
Kamil’s court date in Dublin was on July 22 at the Children’s Court in Smithfield and a further case was set for Limerick in July 27. Both were adjourned.
Crying throughout her interview in Limerick yesterday, the day after her child was cremated, Ms Pustkowska said she pleaded with the judge to imprison her son.
‘I said to that judge, “I can’t keep him at home.” That’s the thing. For two years I’m living as a prisoner because I have locked everything.’
But even though Kamil was pleading guilty to some, though not all, of the many offences he was charged with, the cases were repeatedly adjourned.
Ms Pustkowska said two of the adjournments were due to the legal aid solicitors’ payments dispute.
She recalled: ‘He pleaded guilty, that’s the thing. He didn’t pretend… he said yes.
‘I was there. I will tell you why they didn’t finish it in Dublin, because two times I was there, the lawyers were on the strike, and they couldn’t finish it. That’s why they sent us back two times.’
On two other occasions hearings were adjourned because gardaí did not have evidence ready.
‘They said like, “oh, we don’t have the evidence… we didn’t prepare that… someone was on holiday… someone was sick…” so you just get another date.’
Ms Pustkowska said the justice system could have saved her son if it had listened to her.
But she added: ‘Nobody listened to me. Do you believe I wanted my child in the prison? But if you see what’s going on, you have to find different solutions.
‘At least, if he was in the prison, maybe he will have time to mature. Probably then someone else would have been sitting in the car.
‘That’s not any better. But at least that wouldn’t be Kamil,’ she said.
Ms Pustkowska said the first time she was contacted by gardaí about possible car offences involving Kamil was January 2025. From that point, everything ‘snowballed’.
Suitcases by one of the vehicles at the scene on the M9 northbound at Junction 3 in Co Kildare
Jeremy O’Brien, 18, also lost his life in the horror crash in the early hours of last Sunday
Jack Kennedy, 17, was one of five teenagers to die in the crash
This followed a series of serious assaults and bullying attacks on Kamil by other youths that began two years ago.
According to his mother, Kamil was also routinely bullied through secondary school but ‘never wanted to talk about it’ and ‘made excuses for the bullies’.
‘He wanted to have a friend. He wanted to keep them,’ Ms Pustkowska said.
Around two years ago, Kamil began skipping school despite his mother’s efforts.
‘He was running off… we tried to keep him there. I was driving him to school, collecting him.’
In the summer of 2025, she sent her son to relatives in Poland for several months to try to break the vicious circle.
But while he was there, others still had access to his social media accounts and videos of stolen cars in Ireland were regularly posted.
‘He wasn’t here… and the movies, they kept coming, you know.’
In September 2025, Kamil failed to return to school. A garda juvenile officer in Limerick began working with her son, together with a restorative justice NGO.
Kamil was put on a programme and his mother enrolled him in a course outside school but this also did not last.
His mother said Kamil made new friends online in Dublin and began disappearing.
‘People will say, “why not take the phone off him, computer, telephone, everything?”
‘Yes, I did. He did have nothing, but the next day or another day, he had the phone from someone else.’
In March, Kamil was so severely assaulted and beaten in Dublin he was hospitalised for two days and three nights – but no prosecution resulted.
‘I heard from the guards, like, they can’t do anything because he has to make a statement. I said to them, “he’s not able to make a statement because he’s afraid.”
‘I started actually asking, like, “What can I do?” And they are like: “You can’t do anything. You can do nothing.”’
The grieving mother likes to remember her son as a gentle soul.
Treasured family photos include one poignant picture from 2016 which features Kamil, aged eight, in a Spiderman T–shirt as his family attends an event at Thomond Park in Limerick.
Joe Carthy, 15, also lost his life after being involved in the head-on collision
Treasured family photos include one poignant picture from 2016 which features Kamil, aged eight, in a Spiderman T–shirt as his family attends an event at Thomond Park in Limerick
On his face, the Polish flag is painted on each cheek. He looks shy and timid; a gentle boy still tethered to his mother
On his face, the Polish flag is painted on each cheek. He looks shy and timid; a gentle boy still tethered to his mother.
Another favourite memory is a family holiday to Disneyland Paris.
‘I will remember him forever that way,’ Ms Pustkowska said.
The last footage she has of Kamil is of him leaving the house last weekend on his way to Dublin.
‘I saw him on the camera as he was leaving… that’s the last time we saw him alive.’
She first became aware of the fatal crash at 3pm on Sunday, when someone posted on one of Kamil’s social media accounts.
With ‘RIP Kamil’ already flooding social media, and her son’s phone not answering, she went to Roxboro Garda Station to appeal for information but they had not heard anything about the crash.
A few hours later, Ms Pustkowska’s worst fears were confirmed.
‘I got called at 7.50 [pm] at night confirming that he was dead.’
One aspect of Kamil’s life his mother does not want to speak of is his father, Adam Pustkowski.
However, public records show the family arrived in Ireland from Gdansk on the coast of the Baltic Sea in 2007, the year before Kamil was born. In a nod to his father, Kamil was given Adam as his second name.
At Christmas time in 2011, when Kamil was three years old, his father was caught soliciting the services of a prostitute by an undercover garda sting operation called Operation Freewheel.
The horrific collision – apparently driven by a social media craze – sent shockwaves throughout the country. It also sparked a hate-fuelled online backlash against the teenagers involved in the collision and their families
A vigil in support of Ella Hendricken (pictured) and her sisters Niamh and Alma Kinsella, as well as Alma’s seven-year-old son Yemi, took place in Carlow on Friday evening
Arrested and charged, he and 20 others appeared before Limerick District Court.
After pleading guilty, he was ordered to pay €470 to Doras Luimni, a support organisation for victims of human trafficking and the sex industry.
Now separated from her former husband by more than a decade, Ms Pustkowska has rebuilt her life and is engaged to be married again.
Today she is a successful accountant and a respected member of the Polish community.
In 2013, she became treasurer of a Polish school supported by the Embassy of Poland, a position she holds to this day.
She is also a member of the board of management of the LETS Educate Together National School Limerick.
Asked what she wants to say to those who have criticised her online since her son’s involvement in the devastating crash, Ms Pustkowska replied: ‘Can I say they don’t know anything. And I hope they won’t know.
‘They never find out. People are like, “Oh I know where my 12–year–old is, tucked up in bed at night.”
‘I knew as well. For them, I wish it stays like that.’
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