LETTERKENNY CIRCUIT Court has heard the full details of how Garda Robbie McCallion received injuries that later caused his death while attending the scene of a car theft.
Garda McCallion (29) died after being struck by a car. The impact knocked him over a wall and he received injuries that resulted in his death in hospital almost two weeks later.
The details arose during the sentencing of Cathal Dunleavy (21) who was at the scene but was not the driver of the car that struck Garda McCallion. Dunleavy was jailed for three years for stealing a separate car, a 1994 Toyota Corolla.
Garda McCallion was investigating this theft on March 26th, 2009. Sgt Martin Finnan said Garda McCallion drove a patrol car with two other gardaí, Joanne Doherty and Shane Lavelle, to Tara Court, Letterkenny, in response to a call at 4.33am from a woman saying she saw two men interfering with a car outside a nearby house. Sgt Finnan said all gardaí were out of their vehicle, after speaking to Dunleavy when another car, driven by a second youth, veered towards their car.
Sgt Finnan told Judge John O’Hagan that the other car, a Peugeot, struck the front of the patrol car, mounted a footpath and side-swiped a garden wall, becoming “airborne” , he said.
During these moments Garda McCallion was struck by the Peugeot. He died in hospital on April 7th, 2009 from injuries that he received, Sgt Finnan said.
The Peugeot driver, Jamie McGrenaghan (19) last week admitted driving the Peugeot dangerously and causing the death of Garda McCallion at Tara Court on March 26th last year.
He also admitted taking unlawful possession of a 1994 Toyota car at Tara Court. He denied the manslaughter of Garda McCallion and also pleaded not guilty to reckless driving. He was in custody awaiting trial.
Dunleavy who was on temporary release at the time, resisted arrest and disappeared from the scene. He was arrested later in a car stopped at a Garda checkpoint. Judge O’Hagan was told Dunleavy had a long list of convictions, and was due to return to Loughan House on March 26th, hours after Garda McCallion received his fatal injuries.
Dunleavy gave evidence briefly. He said: “I’m very sorry for what happened. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I had no intention of anybody being hurt. I’m very sorry for the McCallion family for what happened.”
Judge O’Hagan said he accepted Dunleavy’s “genuine remorse”. The maximum penalty he could impose on Dunleavy was five years and a €10,000 fine for the car theft.
He was giving him three years for pleading guilty.
Garda McCallion’s parents and his brother John were in court for the sentence. On Monday Garda McCallion was recognised for heroism by Donegal County Council with a civic award presented to his family.