Monaghan man jailed for seven years over crash that killed two teens on way to debs

Anthony McGinn arrives at Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court, Co Monaghan, for sentencing after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of teenagers Kiea McCann and Dlava Mohamed, who died when the car they were travelling in left the road and crashed into a tree just outside Clones on July 31 2023. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

A man has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of two teenagers.

Anthony McGinn, 61, from Drumloo, Newbliss, Co Monaghan, was sentenced on Wednesday.

Kiea McCann, 17, and Dlava Mohamed, 16, died in the crash on July 31, 2023.

The girls, who were being driven to their Debs ball when they died, had been close friends since Dlava’s family arrived in Clones as part of a resettlement programme for Syrians.

Dlava’s sister Avin was also injured in the crash.

Speaking after the sentencing at Monaghan Courthouse on Wednesday, Kiea’s mother Teresa McCann said: “There is no justice in this. My child’s life is gone and never coming back.” 

Inspector Ann Marie Lardner said gardaí will support the families “in their suffering”.

“Kiea and Dlava were looking forward to celebrating their Debs on the night of the 31st of July, 2023 — they had their entire lives and bright futures in front of them.

“They were killed in a devastating road traffic collision and never came home.” 

Kiea McCann, 17, and Dlava Mohamed, 16, died in the crash on July 31, 2023. Picture: Instagram

Ms Lardner said gardaí stand “united in grief” with the families following the recent death of Garda Kevin Flatley, from the roads policing unit, who was struck by a high-powered motorcycle.

She said: “Garda Kevin Flatley went to work last Sunday, an ordinary day, he never came home.

“They are just three of the 418 killed in our roads since the start of 2023.

“An Garda Síochána and all our road safety partners continuously repeat and repeat and repeat: Speeding kills.

“Kiea and Dlava were killed because of excessive speed. Kevin was on duty detecting and preventing speeding on our roads when he was killed.” 

She added: “As a society, Ireland needs to reset in our collective attitude towards road safety. As a society, we need to slow down. As a society, we need to have a conversation with those who we know drive too fast, either in excess of the speed limit or too fast for the road conditions.

“The only people who can drive slower are drivers. But everybody can influence a driver. Slow down, make our roads safer.

“Get home safe to your families every day.” 

'Extraordinary breach of trust'

During the sentencing hearing, Judge John Aylmer said he was considering the charges in relation to the two deaths and the dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to Avin to be in the same act of driving.

In handing down the sentence, Mr Aylmer said he had to consider where the offence fell on the scale of offending by examining aggravating and mitigating circumstances.

He said the aggravating circumstances of the incident were that McGinn was travelling at almost twice the speed limit in an 80km/h zone, with evidence establishing he was travelling at up to 151km/h on the stretch of road.

Mr Aylmer said McGinn had also “ignored the pleas — and somewhat angry pleas — to desist from two of the frightened young passengers”, referring to Avin and another passenger — Oisin Clerkin — who sustained less serious injuries in the crash.

He said the road was wet which made the speeding even more dangerous.

Mr Aylmer noted McGinn had been a friend of Kiea’s father at the time and had “committed an extraordinary breach of trust” which had been placed in to drive the young people to the debs.

He said the “devastating impact” of his actions was the loss of life and the life-altering injuries suffered by Avin.

He said the court had heard “harrowing victim-impact statements”.

Mr Aylmer said representations for McGinn had pointed out he never had any intention to injure anyone, but the judge added he had a “very determined” intention to drive at a “grossly excessive speed”, having a “reckless disregard” for the potential of death or serious injury to arise.

He said this put the offending at the upper end of severity, but the judge said other aggravating factors which often appear in these cases were not present.

He said there was no question of consumption of drugs or alcohol, or that the car was in disrepair.

The maximum sentence available for the offence of dangerous driving causing death or serious harm is 10 years.

After considering the aggravating factors, the judge calculated a headline sentence of nine years on each count, before mitigating factors reduced the sentence.

In mitigation, the judge said McGinn had no previous convictions nor any other charge pending.

He said the driver was fully co-operative with the investigation to the extent that he could be given his apparently genuine “little recollection of events” having suffered very severe injuries himself.

McGinn spent a number of months in a coma after the crash, the court heard.

The judge said he had entered a very early plea of guilty but added that was in the face of an “overwhelming case” brought by the prosecution, considering the entire event was captured on dashcam.

He said the value of the early plea is in “sparing the families” further trauma of a trial which would have arisen.

Mr Aylmer said McGinn’s injuries cannot be ignored but they provide little mitigation because “they were self imposed”.

The court heard he has lost his marriage due to circumstances arising out of the tragedy and his relationship with his children has become distant.

The judge also said he had received reports that McGinn displayed appropriate victim empathy and his sense of responsibility for the deaths and the injuries suffered “weighs heavily” on him.

McGinn is also considered to present a low risk of reoffending.

Mr Aylmer reduced the sentence to seven years on each count, to run concurrently from Wednesday.

McGinn was also disqualified from driving for a period of 15 years.