Limerick men lose appeal against sentences for car chase that led to deaths of two motorcyclists

One motorcyclist who had been seriously injured at the time subsequently died due to his injuries after undergoing 22 operations

The two defendants will have to serve the full sentences imposed on them at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court last year of six and a half years, and five years and nine months. File picture

A dangerous high-speed chase where one motorist was in fear because a gang of men were in pursuit clubbing the side of his car resulted in serious injuries to two people and the instant death of a motorcyclist and now the two motorists in the chase have lost the appeals against their jail terms.

In a tragic case where one of the two injured parties later lost his life after 22 operations, the Court of Criminal Appeal sat in Cork for the appeals made by 42-year-old Michael Stanners of Pineview Gardens, Moyross, Limerick, and 36-year-old Daniel Phillips of Crecora Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick.

Families still living with the fall-out from that day on January 4, 2020, wept with relief and embraced each other as Mr Justice John Edwards ruled, on behalf of the panel of judges that also included Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy and Mr Justice Alexander Owens, that there were no grounds for altering the sentences imposed on the two accused.

They will have to serve the full sentences imposed on them at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court last year. 

Michael Stanners was jailed for six and a half years and given a 10-year road ban after being convicted by a jury on two counts of endangerment.

Daniel Phillips was jailed for five years and nine months, and given a 10-year road ban, after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of motorcyclist Maurice Fehilly, and to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to motorcyclist Thomas Traynor.

Mr Traynor subsequently died after undergoing 22 operations due to his injuries.

A third motorcyclist, Tom Conway, was travelling in a single file convoy along with Mr Fehilly and Mr Traynor, but he escaped serious injury and attended court with the families of the two deceased.

The trio had formed their own motorcycle group called the 'Sunshiners', which they named because they never ventured out on the roads if it was raining. The fatal collision occurred outside the village of Dromkeen, Co Limerick, on January 4, 2020, on what was a fine dry day.

Judge Sinead McMullan said Phillips was driving a Hyundai van being pursued at high speed by a group of four men, who were travelling in a Toyota Avensis car, which was being driven by Stanners. 

During the pursuit, one of the men in the car driven by Stanners, shouted out of the vehicle as he struck Phillips’ van with a baseball bat: “You're dead, you’re dead, you’re dead”.

The van being driven by Phillips, who was accompanied by a woman and a young child, collided with Mr Fehilly and Mr Traynor, both from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, after he took a bend in the road at high speed.

Mr Fehilly died almost instantly, and Mr Traynor was rushed to hospital, later undergoing 22 surgeries. He had to have one of his legs amputated below the knee and subsequently died.

Appeal ruling

At the Court of Criminal Appeal it was submitted on behalf of Stanners that the headline sentence being set at the maximum possible level of seven years for endangerment was not correct and that insufficient credit was given for mitigating factors.

Mr Justice Edwards said they rejected the appeal by Stanners, saying: “This was a case at the highest level of endangerment. It was intentional, not reckless endangerment. We find no error in the headline sentence of seven years.” 

The court also found that sufficient attention was given to the mitigating factors.

In relation to the appeal against the dangerous driving sentence, which can carry a maximum 10-year sentence, the judge said the culpability of Phillips was somewhat reduced by having passengers in his car and fearing that they were under threat.

“Nevertheless it must have been obvious he was placing others in peril, aggravated by a previous conviction for dangerous driving.” Ultimately, both appeals were rejected.