A 29-year-old teacher who left the scene of a fatal crash has been jailed for dangerous driving causing the death of his friend who played with the highly acclaimed band, The Calvinists.
Aidan McCarthy of Ballycomane, Durrus, Bantry, Co Cork was sentenced three years in jail with one year suspended for dangerous driving causing the death of Taidhg Burke.
Mr Burke (32) was the bassist with The Calvinists who came to international prominence in 2010 when US travel writer Matt Gross came across them playing in a pub in Bantry.
McCarthy had pleaded guilty last month to dangerous driving causing Mr Burke’s death and driving with excess alcohol at Bridge Street, Bantry on October 20th 2013.
Garda Jonathan O’Donovan told Cork Circuit Criminal Court how McCarthy had made an amateurish attempt to remove the registration plates from his car after the crash.
He also left the scene of the collision, leaving Mr Burke seriously injured in the back seat of the car and Mr Burke died two days later from his injuries at Bantry General Hospital.
Mr Burke’s father, Noel read a victim impact statement to the court in which he told of his son’s achievements and how the family have been devastated by his death.
“Our son and brother, Taidhg was a talented musician and songwriter - he was a loving man so full of life, with so much to give and we were immensely proud of him,” he said.
Mr Burke said that reckless decisions were made to drive under the influence of alcohol and not to wear a seatbelt on the morning of October 20th, 2013, which led to their son’s death.
“We, as Taidhg’s family, would like to highlight the danger of such actions and hopefully prevent such a terrible tragedy ever occurring again,” he added.
However, he acknowledged that McCarthy had pleaded guilty to both charges against him arising out of the incident and they genuinely wished him well.
“Any sentence Aidan receives will not bring us solace or satisfaction of any kind and we are aware that we are not the only family who been suffering since that dreadful day,”he said.
McCarthy took the stand to express remorse for what he had done in causing the death of his friend.
“I am so sorry - I just hope over time, you will feel less pain - that’s all I can say,” said McCarthy.
Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin said Mr Burke had displayed extraordinary humanity towards McCarthy in his comments and he should be saluted and admired for that.But no acknowlegement by him of Mr Burke’s nobility would take him from the terrible place where he now found himself with his son dead as a result of the fatal crash.
He noted McCarthy’s guilty pleas and he fully accepted that his remorse was genuine and his guilt over causing the death of his friend was sincere, personal and long-lasting. However, there were aggravating factors to the case which he could not ignore including the fact that McCarthy had driven while under the influence of alcohol.
Judge Ó Donnabháin wondered how, with all that was known and being said about the dangers of drink driving in Ireland, McCarthy could have got into a car in a state of drunkenness.
“He clearly wasn’t getting the message about ‘don’t drink and drive’ because this was old fashioned drunkenness,” the judge said.
McCarthy’s amateurish attempts to remove the registration plates from the car and leaving the scene with his friend seriously injured in the car were also aggravating factors.
Notwithstanding McCarthy’s remorse and Mr Burke’s humanity, he believed the case merited a jail term and he sentenced McCarthy to three years in prison with the last year suspended.
He also sentenced McCarthy to 12 months in jail concurrent for drink driving and disqualified him from driving for 12 years on both charges.
