The Court of Appeal has ruled that the sentence imposed on Shaun Kelly for dangerous driving causing the deaths of eight people in County Donegal was unduly lenient.
The case arose from the July 11, 2010 crash on the road between Clonmany and Buncrana. Seven passengers in Kelly’s Volkswagen Passat died, along with Hugh Friel, who was driving an oncoming Toyota Corolla. Kelly survived with significant injuries.
The court heard evidence of sustained dangerous driving over about 5.5km. Kelly’s overcrowded car left Clonmany at speed, overtook another vehicle aggressively and later crossed onto the wrong side of the road. After clipping Anne McGilloway’s car, the Passat lost control and collided with Mr Friel’s vehicle.
There was no suggestion that alcohol contributed to the crash.
Kelly had previously been convicted of dangerous driving following a 2007 incident at Lisfannon beach. He was also a professional lorry driver.
In December 2014, the Circuit Court sentenced him to four years in prison, suspending the final two years, and disqualified him from driving for 10 years.
The DPP challenged that sentence. The Court of Appeal agreed that the case involved very high culpability and exceptional harm. It said that if Kelly had contested the case and been convicted, a seven-year sentence would have been the minimum reasonably contemplated, with a somewhat longer term potentially appropriate.
The court accepted that Kelly was entitled to some credit for pleading guilty, had shown remorse and would carry the consequences of the crash throughout his life. It also acknowledged that several bereaved families had asked that he not be imprisoned, while stressing that their views could not determine sentence.
However, the plea was entered only after the jury had been sworn and could not properly be treated as an early plea. The court held that reducing seven years to four and then suspending half of that term amounted to unjustified double discounting.
The original sentence was therefore set aside as unduly lenient. The judgment supplied does not state the replacement sentence.