The family of Ronan Wilson have formally asked the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to appeal the sentence that was handed down to the nine-year-old’s killer.
Ronan, from Kildress in Co Tyrone, was hit by driver Sergee Kelly (24), who fled the scene and went on a binge of alcohol and drugs as the boy lay dead on the road at Atlantic Way, Bundoran, on September 23rd, 2023.
Kelly, of Upper Mullaghmore in Co Sligo, was jailed for five years and disqualified from driving for 20 years at Donegal Circuit Court.
Ronan’s mother, Emma Wilson, says she feels “let down” at the sentence.
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The family, after advice from their own legal representatives, have written to the DPP and asked for an appeal of the “leniency” of the punishment.
“We want him to get a proper sentence,” Ms Wilson told Donegal Live.
“We don’t feel that we have got justice here. When you look at his history and all of that, it is a slap in the mouth, a let-down.”
Kelly was previously sentenced to prison - a four-year sentence with the final two years suspended - in 2019 for stabbing a youth in the face. Two years later, Kelly was fined €2,000 for careless driving after being caught driving at 160km/h.
A signed guilty plea entitled Kelly to an automatic reduction of a third of the sentence, the starting point for which Judge John Aylmer said was eight years.
Five-year sentences, to run concurrently, were also imposed on charges of failing to offer assistance and failing to stop following the incident.
The maximum sentence that can be applied for a charge of dangerous driving causing death is one of 10 years imprisonment.
“We feel let down by the justice system,” Ms Wilson said. “We were told that the maximum sentence was 10 years and that, as he pleaded guilty, it would go down a bit. We thought, maybe eight, but we weren’t expecting five. We feel angry.”
Kelly was travelling at a speed in excess of 100km/h - the speed limit is 50km/h - when he struck the child with such force he was propelled 58m down the road.
Judge Aylmer said he considered the incident “very much at the upper end of such offending” as he jailed Kelly.
The family hope that the DPP will now ask the Court of Criminal Appeal to review the sentence given to Kelly.
Ms Wilson said: “We honestly don’t know how long it will take, but are determined to see the sentence increased.”
