16-year-old boy sentenced for dangerous driving causing death

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A 16-year-old boy was sentenced to four years’ detention, with all but 16 months suspended, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 20 November 2015 for dangerous driving causing death. The boy, who cannot be named because he was a minor, had pleaded guilty to the offence arising from a fatal crash at Station Road, Clondalkin, on 20 December 2014, and to driving without a licence or insurance.

The crash killed his 15-year-old friend Dayne Cody after the car lost control and struck a tree. Three other teenage passengers were injured, including one who required 90% of one foot to be amputated.

Judge Martin Nolan said the boy’s previously good record did not remove the need for detention, which he imposed for the boy’s sake and that of society. Detective Garda Padraig Jennings said the boy co-operated with gardaí and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.