Truck driverâs fine for causing death of girl, 3, too lenient
Eoin Reynolds
Wednesday January 27 2021, 12.01am GMT, The Times
Estlin Wall was killed in the crash a few days before her fourth birthday
A âŹ1,500 fine was too lenient a penalty for a truck driver whose careless driving caused the death of a three-year-old girl, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Yesterday the court increased the sentence of Senan OâFlaherty, 64, to 16 months in jail, suspended for two years. The court upheld the âŹ1,500 fine and a four-year driving ban.
Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said that OâFlahertyâs blameworthiness was more significant than was ruled by the trial judge, who said he had âlow culpabilityâ.
The collision on the N85 between Inagh and Ennistimon, on March 15, 2017, killed Estlin Wall a few days before her fourth birthday, and caused serious injuries to her father, Vincent. Ms Justice Kennedy said that witnesses saw âunusual featuresâ in OâFlahertyâs driving before the collision.
OâFlaherty, of Lower Gowerhass, Cooraclare, Co Clare, pleaded guilty at the Circuit criminal court in Dublin to careless driving causing death and careless driving causing serious bodily harm.
At the appeal hearing on Monday Shane Costelloe, SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, asked the court to impose a custodial sentence to act as a deterrent. He said that OâFlaherty may have become frustrated by the continuously changing speed of a bus he was driving his heavy goods vehicle behind and was seen by witnesses in cars behind him driving âright up behind the busâ. When he tried to overtake, he caused Mr Wall to take evasive action. Mr Wall lost control of his car, which did a 360 degree turn and hit an oncoming car that had been driving behind OâFlahertyâs truck.
Mr Costelloe said that the sentencing judge had erred by accepting a statement by OâFlaherty that he only crossed the median line because he saw the bus crossing it and thought there might be a pedestrian or cyclist on the left side of the road. None of the witnesses saw any such person or cyclist there.
Ms Justice Kennedy said it was surprising that OâFlaherty, who knew the road well, would have tried to overtake a bus at that point in the road. She said that the court was persuaded that the trial judge was in error and the penalty imposed was a substantial departure from the appropriate sentence.