DPP set to appeal driver’s sentence

The DPP is to appeal against the sentence handed down to Shaun Kelly, the Donegal man found guilty of dangerous driving causing the deaths of eight people.

Kelly was in December sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with the final two years suspended. He was also banned from driving for 10 years.

The 26-year-old truck driver, of Hill Rd, Buncranaha, pleaded guilty to the charge last July and was sentenced by Judge John O’Hagan at Letterkenny Circuit Court.

Four of the families whose relatives died in the crash at Clonmany in July 2010 had asked Judge O’Hagan not to jail Kelly.

Passing sentence, he said it was sometimes difficult to be a judge.

“The consequences in the community are insurmountable and it is beyond description. It is a terrible, terrible tragedy,” he said.

The DPP has now decided to appeal the sentence that the judge handed down.

A representative from the DPP last week contacted gardaí to inform them of the decision. The families whose relatives were killed in the crash have since been informed. A spokesman for the DPP said they do not comment on individual cases.

The crash occurred on July 11, 2010, and was the biggest loss of life in a single road accident in the history of the State.

Judge O’Hagan had asked for victim impact statements from each family. Harrowing accounts were given by family members about how their lives had changed forever since the crash.

One man, Anthony Friel, had revealed how he had tried to take his own life after the death of his brother Hugh, 66, in the crash.

The men who died in the crash were Hugh Friel, 66, Urris, Clonmany; Eamon McDaid, 22, of Ballymagan, Buncrana; Mark McLaughlin, 21, of Ballinahone, Fahan; Paul Doherty, 19, of Ardagh, Ballyliffin; Ciaran Sweeney, 19, of Ballyliffin; PJ McLaughlin, 21, of Rocks-town, Burnfoot; James McEleney, 23, of Meenaduff, Clonmany; and Damien McLaughlin, 21, of Umricam, Buncrana.