Donegal man jailed for two years for crash that killed eight

Very difficult case. On the one hand he recklessly chose to drive with an overloaded car, but as far as I can recall he was not drinking, but maybe speeding. He killed an innocent stranger, and probably most of his own best friends. But I still feel bad for him

I would not like to have been the judge on that case

The guy is quite clearly a fncking idiot. He kills 8 people due to speeding in a vehicle heavily overloaded and driving dangerously.

Less than a year later, he's caught speeding in a truck and supplies a false name to the Garda when stopped.

He had also come to garda attention twice since the deaths, said the sergeant.

On May 10, 2012 he was convicted at Buncrana District Court of driving his father’s lorry without a rear registration plate the previous August.

On May 15, 2011, he was also stopped by gardai driving a lorry “at some speed” through Buncrana Main Street at 2.40am at a time when a large number of people were leaving a local nightclub.

Sgt Doherty said that when Kelly was asked for his name by gardai he gave the name Christopher O’Donnell before admitting who he was. Kelly was given a caution.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/man-who-killed-seven-friends-and-pensioner-in-crash-will-spend-two-years-in-jail-30847728.html

As much remorse as he probably feels, he has learned nothing. A ten year ban isn't enough, he should be banned for life. If killing 8 people won't teach you to cop on, nothing will, this scourge should never be back on the road.

There are no winners here.

Only losers.

Dancing pointing fingers in a shouty voice does no one any good

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Just for the sake of clarity, he was never convicted of speeding in a truck, he was convicted of having no number plate on the trailer, something many of us (me included) have done ourselves, he was caught speeding in a 50km zone in a car at a later date.

This case was harrowing enough without ditchside hurlers adding bits on as they go along

The very fact that he was caught speeding (at 2.40am, in a crowded street less that a year later when he was supposed to be suffering trauma) would hint at a lack of remorse. Not to mention the fact that he initially tired to pin the blame on another driver.

As someone said, no one wins - but at some point, you have to take steps to make sure it never happpens again.

For those who would hang him on the spot, think back on your own driving careers and I'll bet that there are a couple of fairly dangerous activities undertaken e.g. using mobile/ text message/ speeding. These are all activities that can cause accidents and possibly loss of life. The difference between these actions resulting in horrific consequences or not is often just the toss of a coin.
Should you be locked up even though luck/ fate was on your side and the dangerous action didn't result in horrendous consequences?

In this case, I think there aren't many punishments that could make the guy feel more regret for his actions, it's hard to argue against not sending him to jail for a period of time though...

FactCheck wrote: »

In addition to the eight dead victims, people should also spare a thought for Mrs McGilloway, who only narrowly avoided becoming a ninth victim, had her car destroyed, and had to endure four years of his legal defence trying to blame her for the whole incident, claiming (completely without basis) that she had been on the wrong side of the road.



Just for the sake of clarity, any talk of "convictions" in relation to that incident is irrelevant; he accepted a caution.

His bloody defence team acted more scumbaggy than he did by suggesting that. What a sick suggestion.:mad:

seamus wrote: »

The guy is quite clearly a fncking idiot. He kills 8 people due to speeding in a vehicle heavily overloaded and driving dangerously.

Less than a year later, he's caught speeding in a truck and supplies a false name to the Garda when stopped.

Hmmm, that is unbelievable alright. What a fcuking gob****e...