Minister for Justice to deliver public apology to family of Shane O'Farrell
Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan will deliver a public apology to the family of hit-and-run victim Shane O'Farrell in the Dáil next week.
The apology follows years of campaigning by the family of the 23-year-old who was killed while out cycling near his home in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, on 2 August 2011.
The driver of the car, Zigimantas Gridziuska, should have been in custody at the time of the killing.
In a statement today to Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin on RTÉ Radio 1, Shane's mother, Lucia said: "We note Minister O Callaghan will make an apology to Shane on Tuesday.
"Shane's case raises serious issues about how the criminal justice system works and how it ought to work.
"We await the apology on Tuesday."
Gridzuiska had been a regular defendant before the District and Circuit Criminal courts in Monaghan, Cavan and Louth in the years prior to the killing.
Seven months before the hit-and-run, he was before the Circuit Criminal Court on a number of theft charges.
Judge John O'Hagan deferred his sentencing on that day, but ordered that the Lithuanian national be brought back before him if he committed any more offences and he would be jailed.
Just months later, Gridziuska was convicted of five charges of theft at Ardee District Court - but he was not brought back before Judge O'Hagan as ordered and received a suspended sentence.
The judge at the Ardee court was not informed of Judge O'Hagan's order.
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The Journal
2 days ago
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Irish Post
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