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21/02/2008
Seven Years For Death Driver
The driver of a car that crashed - killing four friends in Fermanagh - has been jailed.
Daniel McDonnell, 21, from Galloon Gardens, Newtownbutler, was found guilty of causing the deaths by dangerous driving last year and has now been jailed for seven years and banned from driving for 12 years.
He was drunk and speeding when he lost control of his car and it crashed into a tree on the Moorlough Road, Lisnaskea, on 2 July 2006.
Peter Leonard and Jonathan McDonald, both 21, Anita Swift, 16, and Danica O'Rourke, 17, died in the accident. A front seat passenger was seriously injured.
McDonnell changed his plea to guilty as his trial was about to start last month.
As he sentenced him, Judge David McFarland expressed sympathy for the families of the deceased.
He said: "Each has suffered the loss of a loved one, taken from them in tragic circumstances.
"Their loss has touched the hearts of the entire community in Fermanagh and throughout Northern Ireland."
The judge said he had received letters from the families of the victims and from the young man who was seriously injured in the crash.
Judge McFarland told McDonnell: "There is a difference between genuine remorse and feeling anguish for one's predicament following the commission of a crime.
"It is difficult to see any evidence of real remorse on your part," he told the driver as he was jailed.
(BMcC)
Daniel McDonnell, 21, from Galloon Gardens, Newtownbutler, was found guilty of causing the deaths by dangerous driving last year and has now been jailed for seven years and banned from driving for 12 years.
He was drunk and speeding when he lost control of his car and it crashed into a tree on the Moorlough Road, Lisnaskea, on 2 July 2006.
Peter Leonard and Jonathan McDonald, both 21, Anita Swift, 16, and Danica O'Rourke, 17, died in the accident. A front seat passenger was seriously injured.
McDonnell changed his plea to guilty as his trial was about to start last month.
As he sentenced him, Judge David McFarland expressed sympathy for the families of the deceased.
He said: "Each has suffered the loss of a loved one, taken from them in tragic circumstances.
"Their loss has touched the hearts of the entire community in Fermanagh and throughout Northern Ireland."
The judge said he had received letters from the families of the victims and from the young man who was seriously injured in the crash.
Judge McFarland told McDonnell: "There is a difference between genuine remorse and feeling anguish for one's predicament following the commission of a crime.
"It is difficult to see any evidence of real remorse on your part," he told the driver as he was jailed.
(BMcC)
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