'We won't let this lie' - Keatings seek tougher penalties for road offences

RTÉ News​

13 hours ago

Singer Ronan Keating has said that his family will push for stronger deterrents for fatal road traffic offences after the driver responsible for the death of his brother avoided prison.
Ciarán Keating, 57, died after his car collided with a car driven by now 22-year old Dean Harte near Swinford in Co Mayo in July 2023.
at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court last February.
He was also found guilty of careless driving causing serious injury to Ciarán's wife, Annemarie, who has been left with life-altering injuries since the crash.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has said that it will not appeal the sentence imposed on Harte.
The Keatings have many "unanswered questions" over what happened to the father of three and claim that they have been left "scarred by a broken system".
In a series of interviews with RTÉ's Drivetime, several members of the family also called for greater penalties for those convicted of road traffic crimes.
"All of the pain and the hurt is in losing somebody. This is just disgusting. It's awful - this situation," Ronan Keating said of the sentence given to Harte.
"You can't get angry. You're floored. You're disappointed. The system is broken.
"As a family, we don't want to send some 22-year-old kid to jail. We don't want to see some kid go to jail who's life is going to be thrown away. That's not what we're looking for.
"But what we're looking for is to make sure somebody else doesn't die because of careless driving. That some other family's life is not going to be ripped apart.
"It's up to us now, the family, to try to do something about it. We won't let this lie".
The singer was also critical of the decision of the DPP to charge Dean Harte with the lesser offence of careless driving causing death.
In a statement, the DPP said that while it cannot comment on individual cases, any choice of charge should adequately and appropriately reflect the seriousness of the criminal conduct for which there is evidence, so as to provide the court with an appropriate basis for sentence.
In handing down a suspended sentence to Harte, Judge Eoin Garavan said there were a number of mitigating factors he had to take into account, including an early guilty plea, a lack of prior convictions and his acceptance of responsibility for the devastation caused to the Keating family.
He also noted how Harte was actively involved in the GAA and in gainful employment.
A letter of apology was rejected by the Keating family.
"My dad was my hero, my mentor. He will never be forgotten. It's heartbreaking. What is the cost of a life?" said Conall Keating.
"Ultimately we are serving the life sentence, not him. It sends a wrong message ... that you can take a life and not spend a single day in prison. Something has to change," he added.
"I remember getting the call from my sister Linda, and to hear her voice on the phone, to hear her screams on the phone, it's something I can never forget," Ronan said of learning of the crash.
"It will be forever etched in my brain, in my mind. As a family, you find it hard to breathe sometimes."
Castlebar Circuit Court heard how Harte, through a lapse in attention, did not correctly undertake a left-hand curve in the road.
His Audi A3 then crossed the centre line and crashed headlong into Ciarán Keating's Ford Focus.
The court was told there were a number of factors which may have contributed to the fatal crash, including damp weather conditions and worn tyres, but concluded that a lapse in attention was the key factor in causing Harte's car to swerve to the other side of the road into the car driven by Ciarán.
The court also heard of a Snapchat message delivered shortly before the crash. Harte and the passenger in his car said it was sent a significant amount of time before that and the judge said he could not take it into consideration.
"We're left with many questions, unanswered questions over what happened," said Ciarán's brother Gerard Keating.
"We were never given a reason as to why Dean Harte's car left his side of the road and flipped Ciarán and Annemarie's car so hard it flipped over the barrier.
"I don't disagree with somebody getting a second chance, but we're the ones left with the scars.
"There are things we'll never forget like reading the autopsy report in order to confirm the cause of death".
Gerard also said that he retrieved items from the crash site two days after the crash, including a door from his brother's car.
"I found the door of Ciarán and Annemarie's car in the ditch. It rocks our confidence in the system and we're just left still scratching our head.
"We went to the scene and picked up debris on the road, bits of the car, personal items, a phone holder, blankets, cup holders and then I found the door of the car in the hedge.
"Shocked. About 10m from the location, it was the rear driver's side door - impact side," he said.
Gerard Keating said that authorities collected the door from him a few days later.
"There are many questions. We are just another family that have been scarred by, effected by, a broken system. Ger went there and did a job others should have been doing," Ronan Keating said.
Ciarán's wife Annemarie suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash.
"She's still suffering, still going to hospital appointments, still going to GPs, dentists, physiotherapists, psychiatrists, counsellors, it just doesn't stop.
"She was in the accident and if it weren't for the actions my father took that day, I'd be sitting here mourning the loss of two parents," Conall Keating said.
"My mother has severe PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), survivors guilt and I don't know how she's going to get through it".
Mrs Keating was unable to attend her husband's funeral due to her injuries. This Sunday marks their 33rd wedding anniversary.
"They brought Ciarán to her and we were all there with her. And it was so surreal to see her say goodbye to the love of her life in a conference room in a hospital. Casket and bed beside each other. There's no explaining it," the couple's daughter-in-law Amilia said.
The Keatings are among a number of families to recently express dismay with sentences imposed by the courts for fatal road traffic offences.
They say they have been contacted by other families in similar positions and will push for greater penalties to be imposed.
"We've looked at other cases, other families and what they've gone through - some more recent than ours. It's continuing to happen. Something needs to change," Ronan Keating said.
"We'd like to see a credible deterrent that every young driver, or any driver for that matter, knows there are serious implications for making a mistake or putting themselves in a careless position. Technology does exist to mitigate some of these circumstances and we'd like to see it used," Gerard Keating added.
However, legal experts warn that any move towards stiffer penalties would ultimately be a matter for politicians.
Senior Counsel Tony McGillicuddy said: "I think there has to be a genuine debate about this at an Oireachtas justice committee or the appropriate committee to bring in the relevant people who can contribute to this.
"Just because one group believes sentences are too light - that doesn't mean objectively that they are. The judges operate within guidelines.
"Increasing penalties is a very easy thing to do, the Oireachtas just has to change a figure in a piece of legislation.
"Will that result in better road safety and driver behaviour? That's a key question that should be answered by an Oireachtas committee," he said.
Earlier this summer, Minister of State for Road Transport Seán Canney met bereaved families, part of the PARC Road Safety Group, who pressed him for an increase in the maximum sentence for dangerous driving causing death.
A Department of Transport spokesperson said that it is "progressing a new Road Traffic Bill to support Programme for Government commitments around road safety, including in relation to the penalty points system.
"In the preparation of the Bill, the Department will consult with external stakeholders as is typical in the legislative development process.
"Any proposal that may impact upon courts and prisons would have to be developed with appropriate input from the Department of Justice".