Driver doing speeds up to 111kph jailed for killing boy, nine
Ronan Wilson was walking to the shop with his brother and a friend when he was struck by the car. Picture: Kildress Wolfe Tones GAA/PA
A young driver who knocked down and killed a nine-year-old boy in Co Donegal after reaching speeds of up to 111kph has been jailed for five years and banned from driving for 20 years.
Sergee Kelly struck Ronan Wilson with such force that he propelled him 58 metres down the road from the point of impact in the seaside town of Bundoran on September 23, 2023.
Kelly fled the scene of the tragedy in his silver Skoda Octavia car, but the entire incident at Atlantic Way was captured on CCTV.
The 24-year-old accused then went on a drugs and booze binge and visited local amusement arcades before being arrested the following day.
Passing sentence on Friday, Judge John Aylmer said the "horrific" speed being undertaken by Kelly left him with no chance of being able to avoid a child stepping out onto the road.
He added that if the accused had been travelling within the speed limit, he may have had more time to react, and young Ronan could have escaped without significant injury.
He placed the case at the upper end of the scale for such offences and said there were aggravating factors, including the speed, leaving the scene and then going on a binge of drink and drugs, and that he had also previously been charged with careless driving after being found to be driving at 160kph.
The horrifying details of the night were given at Donegal Circuit Court sitting at Letterkenny Courthouse earlier this week.
Judge John Aylmer had adjourned the case until Friday to consider various submissions before passing the final sentence.
Kelly was charged with four offences under the Road Traffic Act and tendered signed pleas to all, including dangerous driving causing death.
The plea also included a charge of having been the driver of a vehicle, which was involved in the occurrence of injury to Ronan Wilson, and having failed to offer said person assistance.
Kelly, of Upper Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, has forwarded signed pleas to charges of failing to stop at the scene and failing to remain at the scene of the incident.
A large number of grieving members of the young boy's family were in court for the sentencing, including his mother Emma and dad Dean after travelling to Donegal from their home in Kildress, Co Tyrone.
Members of the family held a framed picture of the football-mad youngster, while his mother clung to a cuddly toy.
Detective Garda Shane Maye previously outlined the case to the court.
He told how a couple, Maria Roberts and Michael McKinney, had been walking along Atlantic Way, when they noticed a car coming at speed from behind them.
Ms Roberts remarked how she thought the car was going way too fast and that it had tinted windows.
The couple then heard a screech and suddenly noticed a number of young boys running towards them with one of them saying that his brother had been hit.
Ms Roberts, who was trained in first aid, tried to find a pulse but could not.
Mr McKinney took off his coat and put it around the young boy while other bystanders who had gathered were trying to do CPR.
CCTV footage taken shortly after the incident showed Sergee Kelly pulling his car into a nearby caravan park, punching in the keycode to raise the barrier and then appeared to be rolling a cigarette.
Damage was evident to the front of his car, the court was told.
A forensic examination of the scene carried out by investigator Sergeant Hugh McCann estimated the car was travelling between 105kph and 111kph while post-impact it was traveling at 91kph when the brakes were applied but the car did not stop.
The report also suggested that Ronan was 30 metres from the car when he stepped onto the road and was struck one second later but that if the car had been traveling within the 50kph zone, this would have been reduced to at least two seconds to allow the driver to react to the presence of the pedestrian.
The court was told that Ronan, along with his older brother Callum and another young boy, had been walking to a nearby shop.
Barrister for the Prosecution, Fiona Crawford, BL said another report on Kelly's vehicle was carried out by Garda PSV Inspector Damian Mulkearns.
It showed that the windscreen and front side windows of the Skoda were tinted to below the 65% legal threshold which would have restricted the driver's view to restricted light transparency levels.
The driver's seat was also reclined to such an extent that his vision would have been greatly reduced and that he was barely able to hold the steering wheel.
Kelly was arrested the day after the incident and brought to Ballyshannon Garda Station for questioning.
When interviewed, Kelly admitted colliding with the child and leaving the scene but claimed he was not driving fast and suggested he was driving at 50kph "max".
Detective Maye also told the court that CCTV footage showed that after the tragedy, Kelly walked back into Bundoran to meet friends, visited a number of pubs, went to an amusement arcade and then later took a taxi home.
He also admitted taking cocaine and also smoking cannabis when he got home.
A post-mortem carried out by State pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, showed Ronan had died as a result of a massive brain trauma.
Victim impact statements read out in court on behalf of a number of family members including Ronan's parents, his aunt Shannon and grandmother Imelda McCauley.
All heart-wrenching and emotional statements told of a little boy who was loved by everyone he met and who loved football and cars.
Ronan's heartbroken mum Emma told how her family's life was idyllic until that moment, and that everything changed irrevocably.
She told of rushing to her son and just lying down beside him and holding his hand on the road after he had been struck.
Now, instead of buying gifts for Ronan on his birthday and at Christmas, they buy gifts for his grave instead.
The accused man took to the witness stand where he apologised to Ronan's family.
Passing sentence, Judge Aylmer placed the starting point for sentencing at eight years in prison, considering the matter “very much at the upper end of such offending” and a case that had a “very high degree of culpability”.
The charges of failing to offer assistance and failing to stop, Judge Aylmer said, had the same level of culpability, removing the potential for lifesaving if it were there.
A family spokesperson and Ronan's uncle Stephen McAuley later said the family were "devastated" by the sentence given.
"No sentence can ever bring Ronan back. But five years for the life of our boy is truly pathetic," he said.
"Sergee Kelly mowed down our wee boy, and with that he drove a knife through our hearts. He then fled the scene, a remorseless coward. He then parties the night away while our child lay dying in the street. In doing this, he turned the knife and our family has been in agony ever since.
"The sentence handed out today doesn't ease our pain in any way and we believe this sends the wrong message to other young people who drive vehicles in a reckless way. It is a blight suffered by communities up and down the country and particularly in Donegal.
"Our family need time to come to terms with the loss of Ronan. He was a force of nature, we will miss him beyond measure, and he leaves a void which can never be filled."
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