No jail for best man who caused groom’s death while 'showing off' in car on morning of wedding

Shane Harty was also given a five-year road ban on Monday

Shane Harty 21 of Tola Park, Shannon Co Clare, got an 18-month jail sentence and a five-year road ban on Monday. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

A man who pleaded guilty to careless driving causing his cousin’s death on the morning of his wedding, was given a fully suspended 18-month jail sentence and a five-year road ban on Monday.

The groom, Myles “Miley” Harty, (aged 20), from Askeaton, Co Limerick, died after his best man and cousin, Shane Harty, lost control of a car they were traveling in and hit a wall, ditch and telephone pole.

The car became airborne and inverted after hitting the wall and telephone pole which smashed through the car’s front windscreen and impacted with Myles Harty’s head, killing him instantly.

Following his arrest, Shane Harty admitted to gardaí that he had been speeding and “showing off” while he drove Myles Harty and another cousin Daniel Harty to a 24-hour shop in Rathkeale situated near their homes in Askeaton, Co Limerick.

The car left the Askeaton to Rathkeale road and landed on its roof sometime between midnight and 1am on August 21, 2021, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Shane Harty was initially charged with one count of dangerous driving causing Mr Harty’s death, however a week prior to his trial, the State accepted his plea of guilt to a lesser offence of careless driving causing Mr Harty’s death, which carries a sentence of a maximum of two years in jail and/or a €10,000 fine.

Myles Harty was due to wed Kate Quilligan at St Munchin’s Church in Limerick city later on that day.

Myles Harty and Kate Quilligan. Ms Quilligan said: 'Every morning I wake up I relive the nightmare of that day. It will never leave my mind.'

When gardaí put it to Shane Harty that “there is no doubt that at the time you lost control of the car you were speeding”, he agreed and replied, “no doubt”.

Shane Harty, (aged 21), of Tola Park, Shannon, Co Clare, also told gardaí he regretted “everything” and he would have driven “a lot slower” if he had the opportunity to go back in time to the morning in question. He added: “I’m sorry it happened, it shouldn’t have happened.” 

A garda forensic collision investigator who examined the scene said he was not able to determine the exact pre-collision speed of the car, but he said the circumstances involved “strongly suggested that (the car) was traveling above the speed limit of 80kmh”.

No other vehicle was involved, the road conditions were good, and the car was in good working order, it was heard. Shane Harty’s Skoda Octavia travelled a total distance of 22.9 metres from where it left the road to where it ended up on its roof.

An autopsy report stated Myles Harty suffered fatal “multiple complex facial and skull fractures” when the telephone pole impacted with his head.

Victim impact statements

Kate Quilligan wrote in her victim impact statement, which was read to the court: “Every morning I wake up I relive the nightmare of that day. It will never leave my mind.” 

It should have been the happiest day of my life...it has shattered so many lives and robbed our son, Miley, of his father.

Margaret and Myles Harty snr, parents of the deceased, wrote that their lives would “never be the same”. They said “Myles was preparing for his wedding day, but he never got the chance to celebrate his special day”.

“Myles always had a big beautiful smile on his face, he is a big loss for us all...He went out that night and told us, ‘I’ll be back in five minutes’, but he never returned.” 

Remorse

Shane Harty wrote letters of apology to Ms Quilligan and the deceased’s family and stated he had lost his “best friend” in the collision and that he wished he “could turn back time”.

Shane Harty’s barrister, senior counsel Brian McInerney, had asked sentencing judge, Colin Daly, to consider a number of mitigating factors in his judgement.

Mr McInerney said Shane Harty was genuinely remorseful, he had no previous convictions, he had a clean driver’s licence on the night; he had co-operated with gardaí; and he had no traces of alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the collision.

“Whatever sentence is imposed by the court, he (Shane Harty) has a heavy burden, he is already serving a life sentence of that burden every waking moment of his life,” Mr McInerney said.

Judge Daly said no sentence would bring Myles Harty back to his family.

After extending his sympathies to Myles Harty’s family, the judge concluded: “Shane Harty will have to live with this for the rest of his life. I’m quite sure that living with the consequences will ensure Shane Harty will change his attitude to speed.”