Man killed in crash had claimed he was facing IRA death threat
Paul McMonagle, 22, from Derry, was in a car when it crashed into a wall just outside Muff, Co Donegal.
The young man publicly claimed some days ago that he had been threatened by dissident republicans after being accused of a sex attack on a woman.
Several years ago, he was the victim of an INLA punishment shooting.
Both the Garda Ombudsman and gardaí in Donegal have launched parallel investigations into a fatal crash, which happened yesterday at about 1am.
Another man in his early 40s, believed to be the victim’s father, was injured but a third fled the vehicle.
It is understood gardaí were in pursuit of the car, a silver Vauxhall Cavalier, prior to the accident.
A third man, in his late 30s and known to gardaí, got out of the Cavalier along the main road a short time before the accident and ran away through nearby fields.
The stretch of road, about 2km from Muff village, was cordoned off yesterday and forensically examined.
One local resident heard the impact of the crash.
“I was reading in the sitting room at the front of the house. I first heard a siren and then heard what sounded like a car flying past the house. I then heard a big crunching sound and thought to myself ‘that doesn’t sound good’.
“I walked out to the front gate and looked around. I saw the car overturned on its roof and then I saw a guard radioing for help,” he said.
Gardaí yesterday described the incident as a single-vehicle accident and said the car had collided with the stone-clad wall of a Texaco station forecourt.
“Two men were brought to Letterkenny General Hospital following the collision and the passenger, a 22-year-old male, was pronounced dead on arrival. Injuries to the second man are not believed to be life threatening,” said gardaí in a statement.
Gardaí have appealed for any witnesses to come forward.
