+1
The leniency is incredible in this case. it makes you wonder what manner of carnage would earn the maximum sentence
It depends, I suppose, on whether one punishes the crime, the outcome of the crime, or both. If he has had other driving offences meantime, one would question the suspension of two years of the sentence. It seems hard to believe.
4 of the families asked the judge not to jail him as part of their victim impact statements.
He has a life sentence and will be reminded of it each and every time he looks into a mirror
Except when he decides to drive without a licence or speed down a main street at 2.30am in a lorry.
In this case it’s bigger sentence having to walk down the Main Street in his home town than going inside IMO
Were there other incidents? The only thing mentioned on a report I saw was one prior to the accident for dangerous driving, and one after for driving a lorry without a rear plate.
I think he still had his licence and received a caution for the incidents reported above by Colin
An absolutely disgraceful sentence. The justice system in this country is a sick joke. You kill eight people through reckless stupidity and you get two fucking years inside. He should have got the full ten.
Dangerous driving prior to the incident and the two I mentioned after it. Plus his initial attempts to blame another driver etc. I’m all for rehabilitation and lighter sentences where appropriate but his deeds in the aftermath don’t seem to justify it. Very magnanimous of the 4 families to request no prison sentence in that context.
Hadn’t seen that. You’d think most people would struggle to ever even get behind the wheel again, never mind doing something illegal again whilst driving.
Probably did it to spare his own mother and father who they probably know. Joke of a sentence
I’d imagine that the lad is question is of pretty low level intelligence. When you bear this in mind, it is easy to understand the actions of the lad in question.
Do you want to flesh that one out for us Fenners?
No problem. All the lads in this discussion are for the most part while collar and third level educated. To anyone with average intelligence the actions of the accused pre and post crash are grotesque.
However, I have known lads like the accused growing up (as most of us have) and they have no cop, no ability to rationalise situations etc. The fact that his old fella had to speak on his behalf in court and the fact that a number of families of the victims asked for no custodial sentence leads me to this conclusion.
I may be wrong but I doubt it.
[QUOTE=“fenwaypark, post: 1059289, member: 276”]No problem. All the lads in this discussion are for the most part while collar and third level educated. To anyone with average intelligence the actions of the accused pre and post crash are grotesque.
However, I have known lads like the accused growing up (as most of us have) and they have no cop, no ability to rationalise situations etc. The fact that his old fella had to speak on his behalf in court and the fact that a number of families of the victims asked for no custodial sentence leads me to this conclusion.
I may be wrong but I doubt it.[/QUOTE]
It’s an interesting point of view, and you’re probably thinking along the same lines as the judge was thinking when he handed down the sentence.
I personally don’t think it should have been a factor in determining the amount of time Kelly got. He got off ridiculously lightly and it will send out all the wrong signals to other youngfellas around the country thinking of engaging in the same sort of hi-jinks.
He killed 8 people and got 2 years. That is just plain wrong.
By the sound of it, that lad the driver was born with a life sentence. No winners in this case lads, tragedy all round.
Fuck him, if that’s the case he should be made walk down that street every hour for the rest of his life.
[QUOTE=“fenwaypark, post: 1059289, member: 276”]No problem. All the lads in this discussion are for the most part while collar and third level educated. To anyone with average intelligence the actions of the accused pre and post crash are grotesque.
However, I have known lads like the accused growing up (as most of us have) and they have no cop, no ability to rationalise situations etc. The fact that his old fella had to speak on his behalf in court and the fact that a number of families of the victims asked for no custodial sentence leads me to this conclusion.
I may be wrong but I doubt it.[/QUOTE]
I’d be of similar thinking to be honest. And I’d imagine the parents of the 4 who asked for no sentence probably were thinking that if he wasn’t driving then one of theirs would have been instead. The first time the chap was given a conviction there was a convoy of 5 cars. Would be interesting to see if any in the car were driving those other cars. none of any of that excuses the driver, but it would seem that it was the accepted way of that group of friends. It is the other man who died and his wife who I would feel most for. For that alone, 2 years is very lenient.
The sentencing in this country is a grotesque lottery though. In the very same week that lads got off with a suspended sentence for kicking an unconscious defenceless man into permanent brain damage, a man got 5 years in jail for damaging a painting. It says a lot about how utterly beyond reality are the cushioned personal lives of the legal elite in this country. A quite astounding week that was, which passed without mention. Tobe quite honest, I strongly suspect that had the driver been from legal or other white collar professional stock, he would have seen no jail time at all.