A judge yesterday urged parents to evict their children from home if they became involved in car theft as he sentenced a teenage boy to four years' detention for dangerous driving and causing the death of his 11-year-old passenger.
"The parents of Cork should warn their children against stealing cars or allowing themselves to be carried in stolen cars. And I would go so far as to suggest they should show them the door", Judge A.G. Murphy said.
The judge made his comments at Cork Circuit Criminal Court after hearing evidence in the trial of a 16-year-old boy who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, causing the death of 11-year-old Christopher O'Flynn in Cork on February 15th last.
The court heard that the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and Christopher were travelling at over 80 m.p.h. in a car they stole from outside a house in Fairhill, Cork.
Christopher had spotted keys in the Nissan Primera parked in Fairhill while the youth kept watch. Christopher got into the driver's seat, but the youth pulled him out and sat behind the wheel himself. Christopher moved into the passenger seat.
The two drove off and had two slight collisions as they headed towards Knocknaheeny, the youth told gardai. They were doing over 80 m.p.h., but when they scraped a van at Bantry Park Road they got a fright and went even faster, he said.
The youth braked as they approached a roundabout near Apple Computers and the car somersaulted through the air. "The car skidded and I heard a bang. That's all I can remember. I can remember all the glass shattered", the youth told gardai.
According to Garda Peter Haughney, two witnesses saw the car smash into the corner of a factory and buckle. It was wet and dark at the time.
Christopher was killed in the crash and the youth sustained serious injuries. He spent almost two weeks in hospital and was still receiving counselling for nightmares he was having about the incident, the court was told.
Father Paul O'Donoghue, a local curate, told the court that the youth was genuinely remorseful. They had not told him about Christopher's death for a number of days afterwards as he was deeply traumatised.
"The first thing he wanted to do when he came out of hospital was go down to Christopher's family. Christopher's mam embraced him and hugged him and they both cried. She even tried to comfort him", Father O'Donoghue said.
Christopher's aunt, Ms Mary Wyse, told the court that she could never forgive the youth for the death of her nephew. "I can never forgive him. We're going through torture over him", she said.
Ms Wyse, who said that Christopher's mother had been too upset to attend the court, claimed that the youth must have forced Christopher into the car, as Christopher had never been in trouble before. He had been playing outside her house just 20 minutes before the accident, she said.
Judge Murphy said that it was an "extremely sad case" and there was no excuse for what the youth had done. "He will have to live with the burden of having killed this young fellow for the rest of his life."
Judge Murphy said that the maximum sentence for dangerous driving causing death was five years, but he had to take the youth's plea of guilty and his age into account. He sentenced him to four years' detention but indicated that he would review the sentence after 2 1/2 years.