A MAN who pleaded guilty to careless driving causing his cousin’s death on the morning of his wedding was given a fully suspended 18-month jail sentence and a five-year road ban.
The groom, Myles ‘Miley’ Harty (20), from Askeaton, died after his best man and cousin, Shane Harty, lost control of a car they were traveling in.
The car became airborne and inverted after hitting the wall and telephone pole, which smashed through the car’s front windscreen and impacted with Myles Harty’s head, killing him instantly.
Following his arrest, Shane Harty admitted to Gardaí that he had been speeding and “showing off” while he drove Myles Harty and another cousin, Daniel Harty, to a 24-hour shop in Rathkeale.
The car left the Askeaton to Rathkeale road and landed on its roof sometime between midnight and 1am on August 21, 2021, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard.
Shane Harty was initially charged with one count of dangerous driving causing Myles Harty’s death, however a week prior to his trial, the State accepted his plea of guilt to a lesser offence of careless driving causing Mr Harty’s death, which carries a sentence of a maximum of two years in jail and/or a €10,000 fine.
Myles Harty’s was due to wed Kate Quilligan at St Munchin’s Church in Limerick City on the day he died.
When Gardaí put it to Shane Harty that “there is no doubt that at the time you lost control of the car you were speeding”, he replied “no doubt”.
Shane Harty (21), of Tola Park, Shannon, County Clare, also told Gardaí he regretted “everything”, saying he would have driven slower if he had the opportunity to go back in time.
A Garda forensic collision investigator who examined the scene was not able to determine the exact pre-collision speed of the car, but said the circumstances “strongly suggested the car was traveling above the speed limit of 80km/h”.
Shane Harty’s Skoda Octavia travelled 22.9 metres from where it left the road to where it ended up on its roof.
Kate Quilligan wrote in her victim impact statement, which was read to the court, that “every morning I wake up I relive the nightmare of that day. It will never leave my mind.”
“It should have been the happiest day of my life … It has shattered so many lives and robbed our son, Miley, of his father.”
Shane Harty wrote letters of apology to Ms Quilligan and the deceased’s family, stating he had lost his best friend in the collision and that he wished he could turn back time.
Shane Harty’s barrister, senior counsel Brian McInerney, had asked sentencing judge, Colin Daly, to consider a number of mitigating factors in his judgement, including that his client was genuinely remorseful; had no previous convictions; had a clean driver’s licence on the night; had cooperated with Gardai; and had no traces of alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the collision.
“Whatever sentence is imposed by the court, he has a heavy burden. He is already serving a life sentence of that burden every waking moment of his life,” Mr McInerney said.
Judge Daly said no sentence would bring Myles Harty back to his family. After extending his sympathies to Myles Harty’s family, the judge concluded that “Shane Harty will have to live with this for the rest of his life. I’m quite sure that living with the consequences will ensure Shane Harty will change his attitude to speed.”
