A driver has avoided a prison sentence in the first case of careless driving causing death to be dealt with by the courts in Ireland.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had accepted a plea of guilty to the charge – as distinct from the offence of dangerous driving causing death – from Stephen Faughnan following the deaths of two of his friends. Faughnan, in his early 20s, Newtownforbes, Co Longford, admitted driving carelessly at Stonepark, Co Longford, causing the deaths of Gavin Doyle (22) and Thomas Kearney (22).
Faughnan had been driving on June 22nd, 2012, when the car struck a wall and overturned on the Kenagh to Longford road. Passengers Mr Kearney and Mr Doyle were both killed instantly. Kayleigh McGann, Mr Kearney’s girlfriend, was seriously injured, but recovered.
A previous sitting of Longford Circuit Court heard that the friends had been travelling from Kenagh to Longford for a night out when the incident happened. A second group of friends who had been travellingin another car were first on the scene. of the tragedy. They had tried to help in whatever way they could, but both young men died at the scene.
In court yesterday, Paul Gunning, defending, told Judge Tony Hunt that Faughnan had no alcohol in his system, he held a driving licence and was driving within the speed limit.
Judge Hunt said the case fell into a very sad category and he wanted to formally express his condolences to the families of those who had lost their lives. He noted that Faughnan had a degree of guilt and remorse for what had happened. The driving conditions were difficult on the night and there may have been a bit of banter in the car, but the judge noted that it was clear that there was some loss of concentration.
“The maximum speed was 77.8 kilometres an hour, which would have been within the speed limit, but travelling at or close to the speed limit in the circumstances may not have been particularly wise.”
While the imposition of a prison sentence was one of the options open to him, he did not believe that the driving standard failed to such a standard as to warrant one. In the circumstances, he believed that a suspended sentence would be a meaningless exercise. In lieu of two years in prison, he imposed an order for 240 hours of community service and disqualified Faughnan from holding a driving licence for five years.