THE father of a Kerry teenager killed in a hit and run accident "has described as "too harsh" the 10 year driving ban imposed on the man responsible for his son's death.
Mr Liam Gowan, of Tralee, has now pledged to support the appeal by the driver against the severity of the sentence.
Liam and Betty Gowan lost their 17 year old son, Eoin, in an accident just yards from their home last October. However, they bear no bitterness towards the former chairman of Kerry County Council, Mr Eamon Barry, who was fined £1,000 and disqualified from driving for 10 years at Tralee District Court this week after admitting leaving the scene of the accident.
Mr Gowan said Mr Barry had "suffered enough" and he was obviously "cut to pieces" by what had happened.
"As the facts were outlined in court, I said to myself that the sentence he got was too harsh insofar as the thing that happened was an accident.
"I knew Eamon Barry from his political profile but I had never spoken to him until the morning of my son's funeral. He is suffering very, very badly and will do so for a very long time. We will all carry grief for a long time, but at least we don't have the guilt that is associated with an accident.
"Our son died, and whatever happened in that court would not have changed that," Mr Gowan said.