The wife of a suspect in the robbery that saw Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe murdered has avoided a jail sentence over a fatal crash she caused.
Colleen McCann, from Newry, was handed down a 12-month suspended sentence for careless driving causing the death of 17-year-old Ciaran McKenna nearly 10 years ago.
McCann, 26, is the wife of James Flynn, who was arrested in London in July and is set to be extradited over the infamous Lordship Credit Union robbery that saw Det Garda Donohoe murdered in 2014.
Passing sentence on Wednesday, Judge John Aylmer said McCann’s actions in moving to the United States where she avoided prosecution for nine years was “cowardly” and not much consideration was given to the victim’s family when she did so.
Judge Aylmer added that the nine-year delay in the case also meant that a coroners inquest was put on hold “undoubtedly adding additional distress” to Mr McKenna’s grieving family.
The court heard that the crime McCann pleaded guilty to, namely careless driving causing death, was “at the higher end of the scale” and therefore on its own merited a sentence of 18 months imprisonment before mitigation.
The mitigating factors in this case were that McCann had no previous convictions, that she had pleaded guilty and that she was herself a child at the age of 17 when the offence occurred.
The judge also noted that she had a “good work history” and referred to a number of references handed into the court in favour of her character.
He also accepted that the accused is “remorseful” after her apology letter was read out in court last week.
Judge Aylmer said he would have to defer part of the sentencing in terms of whether or not to disqualify McCann from driving, as the issue over whether he has the discretion to do so is currently an issue of debate before another court.
He therefore directed that McCann undertake not to drive until the matter is resolved before the court and a decision is made as to whether or not he can disqualify her from driving.
McCann, who was supported in court by her father, was handed down the 12-month suspended sentence and ordered to enter a bond of €100 and to keep the peace, be of good behaviour for a year.
She also understood that she must undertake not to drive until such time as the legal issue is resolved.
McCann, 26, pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of Mr McKenna after crashing his car into a tree near Castleblayney on July 30 2012 - though last week the court heard that she suffered from amnesia and has no actual memory of the event.
In a statement read out by her legal team, McCann apologised to the victim’s family.
She stated that the “accident” happened “when we were both 17 years old” and although it occurred nine years ago, “it has always affected me".
McCann added that she has “been through a lot over the years” and it “hasn’t been easy,” before concluding by saying she hopes her guilty plea brings “closure” to the victim’s family.
The court also heard a harrowing victim impact statement from Mr McKenna’s mother, who took the stand to read it out herself.
“Ciaran left us on the 13th of July 2012. He told me that night ‘I won’t be late Ma. I have work in the morning'. That will be his final words to us.
“Ciaran lived life and he loved life and had lots and lots of laughs. He had so many close friends,” she said.
The heartbroken mother, who became emotional at times during her reading of the statement, added that her son had many school friends, teammates and cousins and that “these friendships couldn’t have been more obvious” than when they walked by his side alongside the coffin and carried him on his final journey from his home to the church.
“How can we as a family describe loss?
“When one is taken away the family is broken and it’s never fully healed again. A part of us has been buried with Ciaran,” she said.
“Something is missing, never to be replaced and never to be forgotten.”
Her statement ended by saying that “he will forever be loved".
Giving evidence before the court, Detective Garda Ciaran Marks confirmed the facts of the case in that the defendant was 17 years of age and had recently obtained her driving licence before the crash in July 2012.
The court heard McCann was driving the victim’s car when the car collided with a tree off a relatively straight road.
The road was a “good road”, the court heard, with the car going into a gravelled area at a wide junction before it struck the base of a tree - causing the catastrophic collision that claimed Mr McKenna’s life.
McCann had used the phone of the victim to ping the phone of a friend who was alerted to the scene by her following the crash, the court heard.
After gardai, the fire brigade and an ambulance arrived at the scene, the vehicle was cut open, the roof peeled back and the body of Mr McKenna was discovered on the passenger side against the passenger door, the court heard.
McCann was carefully lifted from the vehicle by the ambulance services and rushed to hospital, along with the victim.
The court heard that the accused initially had been extradited from the US in 2017 and charged with dangerous driving causing death - but she has since pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of careless driving causing death.
The court heard there was in fact no evidence that the vehicle was driven at speed when it collided with the tree - and that what was the case was “an error of judgement by the driver of the vehicle” who was a young and inexperienced driver who had recently passed her driving test about a month or two before the incident.
The prosecution was stating that a forensic examination of the case led to evidence of bruising and injury on McCann that concluded they were consistent with her being the driver of the car.
A pair of women’s shoes were also discovered in the vicinity of the driver’s side of the car - which McCann later admitted were hers.
However, in interviews, McCann - who suffered a broken right arm, collapsed lung and injured kidney in the crash - told gardai she could not remember the crash at all.
She also could not recall whether she was the driver of the vehicle - as she was suffering from amnesia.
In her third interview, she told gardai she had no recollection of the night adding that she was “100% certain” of that and she would swear on anyone’s grave.
The court heard McCann has subsequently “settled down” and married - and that she has a three-year-old child.
McCann, who has no previous convictions, is also pregnant, the court heard, and her due date is in March of next year.
A barrister defending for McCann told the judge that a consultant was satisfied in his opinion that his client genuinely had no recollection of the events.
He added that in those circumstances his client still pleaded guilty - and this is something that has been very much welcomed by the prosecution.
He said that the case had “circumstantial evidence” and some of those circumstances were “highly contestable.”
His client, he said, had no memory of the incident but objectively looked at the benefit of the evidence and under legal advice, had taken the course she has in pleading guilty to careless driving.
“This is a case where she made that decision based on her assessment of the evidence rather than having known all along that she was the driver,” the defence said.
He added that the position is therefore that what had occurred was a momentary lapse of concentration and that gave rise to careless driving and “that there are no other aggravating factors in this case.”
