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The Irish Sun
04-06-2025
- General
- The Irish Sun
Heartbroken family of Debs crash teen appeal killer driver's seven-year ‘insult' sentence for horror 121kph crash deaths
THE family of Debs crash victim Kiea McCann have confirmed they have appealed the seven-year sentence handed to killer driver Anthony McGinn. Best pals Kiea, 17, and Dlava Mohammed, 16, died when the Advertisement 2 The seven-year sentence handed to killer driver Anthony McGinn is being appealed by one of the victim's family Credit: Pacemaker Press 2 Kiea McCann and Dlava Mohammed died in the crash in Co Monaghan in 2023 Credit: RTE Collect McGinn, 61 - a pal of Kiea's family - offered to chauffeur the teens to their school debs. He had been doing Reckless McGinn was He also admitted to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm - as Dlava's sister Avin, 19, suffered life-altering injuries. Advertisement Read more in News The McCanns blasted the 'pathetic' jail sentence handed to killer driver McGinn, fuming that he was only jailed for seven years while they have lost their daughter for life. They felt the sentence wasn't tough enough and McGinn got off lightly. The grieving family have now confirmed they have written to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking him to appeal the sentence - and to seek a longer jail time for McGinn. Kiea's dad Frankie McCann said they feel they did not get justice. Advertisement Most read in Irish News Exclusive Mr McCann said: 'It is not a sentence of seven years, it's an insult to a family. It is an insult to our family, it's an insult to the Mohameds. 'They don't live in our houses, they don't see the carnage afterwards. Nearly two years has passed now and it is worse today than the day it happened.' Schoolgirl best friends died holding hands in horror crash He confirmed they have asked the DPP to appeal and to seek a harsher sentence for the driver who caused the two heartbreaking deaths. Kiea's sister Michaela slammed the jail sentence after it was handed down, saying: "Seven years? For taking away two precious lives? It's like the justice system is spitting in the face of everything we hold dear. Advertisement 'BLOOD IS BOILING' "How can they put a price on human life and come up with such a pathetic sentence? My blood is boiling. "Every single day, I'm haunted by the thought of my sister and her best friend, their futures stolen, their laughter silenced, all because of one person's reckless actions. "And now, this person gets to walk out in seven years? It's a slap in the face, a cruel joke, and an insult to their memory." She continued: "The anger is consuming. I feel like screaming, like breaking something, anything to release this overwhelming rage. The injustice of it all is unbearable. Advertisement "How can we let someone who committed such a heinous crime get away with a sentence that's barely a slap on the wrist? The thought of him living, breathing, while my sister and her best friend are gone forever is enough to make me lose my mind. 'NEVER-ENDING NIGHTMARE' "It's a never-ending nightmare, and the justice system has become the villain in my story. "This sentence isn't a betrayal. It's a message that says some lives are worth less than others. It's a devastating blow to my family, who will never be the same. "We are left with a gaping hole in our hearts, a void that can never be filled, while the person responsible gets to continue living. The anger will linger, a constant reminder of the system's failure and the pain we must endure." Advertisement GUILTY PLEA McGinn had pleaded guilty to causing the girls' deaths by dangerous driving and causing Avin serious bodily harm. In a heartbreaking victim impact statement, Kiea's mum Teresa told how she 'trusted' McGinn to take her daughter to the leaver's ball. She said: 'When we got to the scene, Kiea was already gone. Her dad tried CPR on her. Nothing would bring her back. 'Kiea and her best friend were robbed of their lives. They were put side by side holding hands on the grass as me and my husband lay beside them.' Advertisement 'SLOW DOWN' Front seat passenger Oisin Clerkin had asked McGinn to 'slow down' but the driver did not respond. Kiea's debs date Oisin, who escaped the smash with non-life threatening injuries, later told cops: 'He was driving really fast and it scared me. 'None of the girls said anything. Kiea looked scared. I said 'Goodbye' to Kiea and I woke up in hospital.'
Irish Independent
21-05-2025
- Irish Independent
‘He's getting visits in jail – when we visit our daughter, we go to a graveyard': parents tell of anger at man who caused death of teens in crash on way to debs
Best friends Kiea McCann (17) and Dlava Mohamed (16) were killed in the road crash in Monaghan on July 31, 2023. The teenagers and two other students, including Dlava's sister Avin, were being driven to the ball by family friend Anthony McGinn when he crashed the car into a tree. McGinn (62), of Drumloo in Co Monaghan, was jailed earlier this month after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of the two girls. Frankie McCann, Kiea's father, recalled the moment he and her mother Teresa arrived on the scene of the crash. "I remember my phone ringing at 18.33. When we got there, we seen the car had hit the tree and had spun around,' Mr McCann said. He told his wife to hold back while he jumped the fence. 'You won't want to come over for a minute as I check if the kids are all right,' Mr McCann said at the time. "So when I went in, I went through the side window. Anthony McGinn had a hold of my daughter. And he said to me, 'Kiea, Franky. Kiea.' "And I never spoke to him. And I started doing compressions on them. After that we waited for fire brigades and ambulances. It seemed like an eternity,' he said. When emergency services arrived, Mr McCann helped cut the doors off the cars and get the girls out. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more "And then it was just a rush job of jumping from my own daughter to Dlava. Just trying to basically save one to get to the other. "It was something you had to do. When the doctors came, we got the girls beside each other. When they were in the car, they were holding hands when they were gone,' he said. "We knew they were gone instantly,' he added. He recalled looking back across the road and seeing the rest of his children screaming and panicking. Following their death, and while on the roadside, Mr McCann gave his daughter her last rites, so that she knew that she was loved. "It's hard because you remember the day your kid was born. You were the first to hold her. Then you were the last to hold her going out of the world,' he added. He said that he has to live with that as a 'consequence of people not taking care of what they are doing'. He told how McGinn was a 'so-called' friend of his and that on the night, he offered to take both Kiea and Dlava to their debs. "I said, 'You don't have to take them' and he said, 'No, I'll take them. I'll get them there safe and I'll go back and get them home safe',' Mr McCann recalled. Mr McCann continued: 'We trusted him. We had known him years. We were on motorbikes together. . 'And I would have to wait for him. You would never see him in a rush.' Mr and Mrs McCann told how Óisín, one of the passengers in the car, along with Kiea and Dlava and Avin, were all begging Mr McGinn to 'slow down'. Monaghan Circuit Court heard McGinn was travelling at speeds of up to 151kmh on the night of the fatal accident. "They begged with their lives for him (to slow down). He could have slowed down at any time on that road. He chose not to,' Mrs McCann told RTÉ's Prime Time. Speaking outside Monaghan Circuit Court following McGinn's sentencing, Ms McCann had said there was 'no justice' for what happened. 'Seven years, that's the justice here. Two beautiful girls. This is my daughter Kiea,' Ms McCann had said, holding a picture of Kiea aloft. 'And this is what we got, seven years today. There is no justice for this. My child's life is gone and never coming back.' McGinn was sentenced to a total of seven years' imprisonment and banned from driving for 15 years. Speaking to Prime Time last night, Mr McCann asked why five years' imprisonment wasn't given for Kiea, another five for Dlava and two years Avin, running consecutively. 'That's 12 years the judge could of given in consecutive years, not turn around and said I'll give the higher end of nine. He would be doing a longer sentence. "He is getting three meals a day. He's getting visits. If we want to visit our daughter, it's in a graveyard to speak to a stone,' Mr McCann said. Mr McCann said that, as a father, he feelt that he was supposed to be the strong one in the home. "But when you look at your wife and see the pain in their eyes and the kids. When you know you can't help yourself, how can you help them? "You love them so much and you care for them, but you don't know how to help them.' He told how Kiea wanted to be a social care worker and to go on to college to help people. "What is she now? She is just another road victim. She is somebody who will never be known as Kiea and a mother,' he said. "She is just known as the girl who died along with her friend on Clones Road.'
The Journal
21-05-2025
- The Journal
'There is no moving on': Parents of Kiea McCann recount night of Monaghan debs crash
Frankie McCann, whose daughter Kiea was killed in a crash alongside her friend Dlava Mohammed on the way to their Debs in 2023, tells @MiriamOCal about arriving to the scene of the crash. WATCH: @rtenews | #rtept — RTÉ Prime Time (@RTE_PrimeTime) May 20, 2025 THE PARENTS OF Kiea McCann, one of two teenage girls killed in a collision on their way to a debs in Co Monaghan in 2023, have said that there is 'no moving on' from her death. Kiea (17) and her best friend Dlava Mohammed (16) were killed when the car they were travelling in struck a tree at Legnakelly in Clones, Co Monaghan on 31 July 2023. The driver of the car, Anthony McGinn, was handed a seven-year jail sentence last week after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of Kiea and Dlava. According to an extensive forensic report, McGinn's average speed between Clones and the scene of the collision near the New Line junction was calculated to 138.85 km/h. The speed limit on that road is 80 km/h. In an interview with RTÉ's Prime Time this evening, Frankie and Teresa McCann described Kiea and Dlava as 'inseparable' and 'more sisters than friends'. Recounting the crash, Frankie said that McGinn was 'a so-called friend of mine' and had offered to drive the girls to their debs. He said he told them he would get them there safe and they trusted him. He said that when he and Teresa arrived at the scene of the crash, he started doing chest compressions on Kiea before the emergency services arrived, when he helped to cut the doors off the car. 'Then it was just a rush job jumping from my own daughter to Dlava. You were just trying basically to save one to get to the other. It wasn't that you had a choice to do it. It was something you had to do,' he said. When it became clear that there was nothing more they could do, Frankie said he gave his daughter the last rites with rosary beads 'because there was no one else there to do it'. 'You kind of hope if there is something after life, they would know that you were with them. They would know that they were loved, because my daughter knew she was loved,' he said. Kiea McCann (left) and Dlava Mohammed (right) died in the crash in Monaghan on their way to a debs ball. 'You remember the day she was born, when you're the first to hold her. Then you're the last to hold her going out of the world. That's what you live with. That's the consequences of people not taking care of what they're doing.' 'They begged for their lives' Before sentence was handed down, Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court heard that Dlava's sister Avin, who suffered life-changing injuries in the incident, asked McGinn to slow down multiple times before the collision. Advertisement 'They begged for their lives. He knew that. He heard them asking for him to slow down. He could have slow down at any time on that road. Any part of that road, he could have slowed down. He chose not to,' Teresa said. They said they did not believe the seven-year sentence that McGinn received was fair. 'In my eyes and in her mother's eyes, what we seen on the night, if the DPP or the judge or somebody had to go through all that trauma that we went through and seen it, it would be a different story,' Frankie said. 'Why not turn around and give five years for my daughter, give five years for Dlava, two years for Avin? That's 12 years that a judge could have gave, consecutive years. He's getting three meals a day. He's getting visits. If me and her want to visit our daughter, it's a graveyard. Speak to a stone. Teresa said: 'People think that because [McGinn] got a seven year sentence, you can move on. There is no moving on. There is no move on. Not for me anyway, definitely not for me.' Frankie said Kiea wanted to be a social care worker. 'She wanted to go on to college, finish it so she could help people. What is she now? She's just another road victim. She's somebody that'll never be known as Kiea.' 'Reset of road safety' Speaking after the interview, Minister of State at the Department of Transport Sean Canney offered his sincere condolences to the McCann family. He said a 'country-wide reset of road safety' was needed, echoing comments Garda Commissioner Drew Harris made earlier this month. Canney said he intended to act on legislation to reduce speed limits on Irish roads. 'We need to make sure that we have active engagement with young people before they take up driving, to educate them on how important it is to show respect to the car that they will have control,' he said. 'I think it's also important that we look at how we're actually carrying out detections and our monitoring of speed on our roads.' Asked about the Department of Transport's plans to reform the Road Safety Authority , Canney said he had engaged with the RSA. 'Hopefully we'll be bringing in some proposals in the coming months to make sure that we have a more efficient and a more effective Road Safety Authority,' he said. He also said he believed it is realistic that fatalities on Irish roads will be dramatically reduced by 2030 and eliminated by 2050. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
Kiea McCann's parents tell of arriving at scene of crash in Prime Time interview
The parents of Kiea McCann have told of the heartbreaking moment they arrived at the scene of the crash that claimed the life of their beloved daughter and her best friend, and how her father administered their last rites. Tragic teenager Kiea, 17, died in a horrific crash along with her best friend Dlava Mohamed, 16, as driver Anthony McGinn, who was bringing them to their debs ball, ignored their pleas to slow down and struck a tree at Legnakelly, Co Monaghan on July 31, 2023. In an interview on RTÉ's Prime Time on Tuesday night, the parents of Kiea, Teresa and Frankie McCann shared the joy that was felt in the household as their daughter prepared for her debs night. Kiea's loving mother Teresa said: 'Getting ready that morning, me and Kiea, of course, she was above in the bedroom, and I'm downstairs, waiting for her and we're taxing each other, back and forward. I said, 'Come on, time to get the makeup done'. 'They were so excited about it,' her beloved father Frankie added. Frankie shared the tragic moment he and Teresa arrived at the scene of the crash. 'We got there, and we seen the car had hit the tree and had spun around, so we did,' he told Prime Time. 'So I said to Teresa, 'You hold back'. And I jumped the fence…. 'You won't want to come down here for a minute,' I said. 'I'll check is the kids all right'. 'So when I went down, I get in through the side window and Anthony McGinn had a hold of my daughter like that there, and he says to me, 'Frankie, Kiea, Frankie, Kiea', and I never spoke to him, so I didn't, and I started doing compressions on her. 'So after that, we were waiting for the fire brigades and ambulances, it just seemed like an eternity. 'So eventually, when they came, I helped to cut the doors off and cut the girls down, and then it was just a rush job from jumping from my own daughter to Dlava. Just trying basically to save one to get to the other. 'It wasn't something you had a choice to do, it was something you had to do. Then you'd turn around, you'd see the mother lying with your own daughter. 'So eventually, when we knew there was nothing coming, the doctors landed and the whole lot. We got the girls beside each other. When they were in the car, they were holding hands when they were gone, and we knew they were gone instantly. 'And then when you look back on the road and you see the rest of your kids stand on the road and them screaming and panicking.' Frankie gave the two girls their last rites himself. 'There's nobody else there to do it,' he shared. 'If anything, you kind of hope, if there is something after life, they would know that you were with them. You know, they'd know that they were loved. Because my daughter knew she was loved.' Frankie told Prime Time that the sentence Anthony was handed was too lenient, sharing that while Anthony can receive visits, if they want to visit their child, 'it's a graveyard'. Frankie said: 'To believe that the man that was asked to stop and refused, in my eyes and in the mother's eyes, what we seen on the night, if the DPP or the judge or somebody had to go through all that trauma that we went through and seen it, it would be a different story. 'You just can't live life like that, and then to go into a court and to hear he gets seven years. Why not turn around and give five years for my daughter? Give five years for the Dlava, two years for Avin. 'That's 12 years that a judge could have given, consecutive years. He could have give that, not turn around and say, will it? He's getting three meals a day. He's getting visits. Me and her want to visit our daughter, it's a graveyard. Speak to a stone.' Teresa said they trusted Anthony to bring the girls safely to the debs, and that the sentence he received was not fair. 'To me, it's not a fair sentence,' Teresa said. 'At the end of the day, he knew what he was at when he got into that car. He knew he was meant to bring them kids to their Debs. He knew he was meant to drive them safe. We trusted that.'
RTÉ News
20-05-2025
- RTÉ News
'No moving on': McCann parents speak out after debs crash deaths
The parents of Kiea McCann, one of two teenagers killed in a crash on the way to a Debs ball in Monaghan in 2023, have spoken in their first television interview about arriving to the scene of the crash moments after it occurred. Frankie and Teresa McCann recalled the incident, and said they wished the driver of the car in which Kiea was travelling had received a longer sentence. Last week, Anthony McGinn, 61, of Drumloo, Newbliss, Co Monaghan, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and serious injury. He was driving almost twice the speed limit when his car struck a tree near Legnakelly on 31 July, 2023. The crash killed Kiea and her best friend, 16-year-old Dlava Mohammed, and left Dlava's sister, Avin, with life-changing injuries. Kiea's parents told Prime Time they reached the location of the crash before emergency responders arrived. "When we got there, we seen the car had hit the tree and had spun around," Kiea's father, Frankie, said. He jumped over the fence and ran down to see if the passengers were alright. "When I went down, I got through the side window and Anthony McGinn had a hold of my daughter, and he says to me, 'Frankie, Kiea... Frankie, Kiea.'" "Then out of nowhere, it was like an angel landed, there was a nurse and all I could see was the hands coming in like that to the back of the car. And she caught Kiea 's head, she was holding Kiea's head when I started doing compressions on her." Frankie said he moved from Kiea to Dlava, trying everything to revive the girls as they waited for emergency services to arrive. "You were just trying, basically to save one to get to the other. It wasn't that you had a choice to do it, it was something you had to do. And then you'd turn around and you'd see the mother lying with your own daughter." Eventually, it was clear there was nothing more they could do, and Frankie gave his daughter the last rites. "You kind of hope, if there is something after life, they would know that you were with them," he said, "you know, they'd know that they were loved, because my daughter knew she was loved." Frankie and his wife, Teresa, lay with the girls on the grass bank at the side of the road. "I just got to say, 'I love you baby girl,'" Teresa said. They said they struggle to comprehend the trauma they lived through and of losing their daughter. "You go to bed at night, you cry, you waking up crying as your reality of life," Frankie said. "You remember the day she was born. When you're the first to hold her, then you're the last to hold her, out of the world. That's what you live with. That's the consequences of people not taking care of what they're doing," he added. "Still to this day it's just, it's just even hard to even, you know, even think about that," Teresa said. "It's a nightmare to live with… just lying there with them and knowing that you couldn't save them." Driver Anthony McGinn was known to Frankie and had offered to give the girls a lift to their Debs. After the crash, it emerged that he was driving at almost twice the speed limit when the crash happened. Passengers in the car who survived the crash said in court that they had asked him to slow down. "We just generally thought it was an accident. At that time, that's what we thought," Teresa said. "They begged for their lives. He could have slowed down at any time at that road… He chose not to." Frankie said Kiea wanted to be a social care worker. "She wanted to go on to college, finish it so she could help people. What is she now? She's just another road victim. She's somebody that'll never be known as Kiea." "There's no justice for that," Frankie said. At the sentencing, the family was shocked to hear the seven-year sentence issued to McGinn. The judge in the case said mitigating factors included there was no drink or drugs involved and McGinn's very early plea of guilt. McGinn was also banned from driving for 15 years. The McCann family believe McGinn should serve more time behind bars. "You just can't live life like that and then go into a court and to hear he gets seven years," Frankie said. "Why not turn around and give five years for my daughter, give five years for Dlava, two years for Avin? That's 12 years that a judge could have given, consecutive years." "It's not a fair sentence. At the end of the day, he knew what he was up when he got into that car… Seven years is nothing," Teresa said. Kiea's younger daughter, Tameaka, is now preparing for her own Debs, but the memory of her sister's last day is very much still on her mind. "She actually didn't want to do it," Frankie said. "But her mother talked to her into it, you know, and says, 'it's new chapter in your life.'" "Just looking at her sister all so excited to go out and start something" Teresa said, "and now she's going on to make hers and I really want her to make hers… but still doesn't stop her thinking of her own sister and the way it ended up with her." Kiea's absence isn't just felt in relation to the big events, like her sister's Debs, it's felt all the time, Frankie and Teresa said. "There is no moving on. There is no move on. Not for me anyway," Teresa said. "[It's] worse than a life sentence in a prison because you have nothing left," Frankie added.
