A TEENAGE driver pleaded guilty yesterday to causing the death of his best friend by driving dangerously in a “banger” of a car with virtually no brakes, which he had bought just days beforehand in exchange for a dozen oysters and €85 cash.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named due to his age, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court to driving his vehicle dangerously at a Co Galway location on November 22nd last year – when he was 16 – which caused the death of his 16-year-old friend.
Garda Shane Prendergast told the sentencing hearing that the defendant bought the 1998 Mayo-registered Citroen Xsara car from a neighbour, a man in his thirties, on November 17th, just five days before the fatal crash, for €85 and a dozen oysters.
He said the seller had warned the 16-year-old that the brakes in the car were very bad.
The accused hid the car behind a wall near his local shop and never told his parents, who were present in court, that he had bought it. He only drove the car at night so they would not see him.
Garda Prendergast said the deceased had been at the funeral of one of the young women who was killed in a car crash near Ballindine last November and he met the accused in a local pub afterwards. The accused, the court was told, drank three pints of lager. Both youths decided to go to another pub and they were on their way there when the accident happened.
Neither youth was wearing a seat belt when the driver lost control of the car while trying to negotiate a corner at 50-55 mph. The car flipped over into a field and landed on its roof in a drain, killing the front seat passenger.
Judge Raymond Groarke questioned the actions of the man (who was not in court) who sold the car, which he described as a “lethal weapon” to a child.
Deferring sentencing to March 23rd next to give the accused time to sit exams, Judge Groarke said he had to impose a sentence that would cause other young men to hesitate before they bought “bangers”.