A car thief whose stolen car killed a taxi-driver in a head-on collision has been jailed for five years. Two other youths riding in the car were jailed for three and two years.
Members of the victim's family heckled as a sentence review was set for a year for the driver of the stolen car, Thomas Griffin (20). Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Derek Hall was thrown from his car and died instantly after Griffin crashed a red light while being chased by gardai.
Griffin pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and to unlawful use of a car on April 12th, 1999, Keith Russell (18) and Thomas Barry (18) admitted allowing themselves to be carried in a stolen car on the same occasion. All three have addresses at Cushlawn Park, Tallaght. Mr Hall (39), a hackney driver and the father of a family, also lived in Cushlawn Park.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne set a review date for Griffin's sentence for February 2001 because of his guilty plea and psychiatric report which said it was likely he could be rehabilitated back into society.