A JUDGE has ordered a man whose dangerous driving caused the death of his girlfriend and baby daughter to serve 240 hours’ community service. He also disqualified the accused from driving for eight years.
Christopher Hanlon, now 21, had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of his 16-year-old partner and three-month-old daughter in Co Donegal on June 16th, 2008.
Kerry-Ann Meehan and daughter Neisha were killed instantly when the car driven by Hanlon burst a tyre, went out of control and smashed head-on into a Jeep coming in the opposite direction.
The dead woman’s mother had asked Judge John O’Hagan to send Hanlon to jail in her victim-impact statement. However, the judge said it was not his job to seek revenge on Hanlon.
He sentenced him to two years in prison but suspended the sentence under the condition that Hanlon serve 240 hours’ community service.
Letterkenny Circuit Court heard how the back tyres on Hanlon’s Toyota Corolla were bald and that he had been spotted earlier in the day doing hand-brake turns. A friend had inspected the tyres and warned him he needed to change them.
Hanlon, who was 19 at the time of the crash, said not a day went by that he did not wish he had died in the accident. If he could turn back the clock and change places with his dead partner and baby, he would.
“Every single day I feel that guilt . . . I am not just saying that. That is how I feel. I made one mistake and I will have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
The court heard how at 8.45pm on June 16th, 2008, Hanlon, girlfriend Kerry-Ann and baby daughter Neisha were travelling back to their flat in Doochary having been at Letterkenny General Hospital to get routine injections for their child.
Near Tullygay the car suffered a tyre blow-out and went out of control.
Hanlon narrowly missed two young boys walking along the road but then veered in the direction of an oncoming Isuzu Jeep carrying a trailer-load of sheep.
The driver of the Jeep, Alan Scott, tried to veer to the side of the road but was hit head-on.
Ms Meehan was killed instantly in the crash but it took the emergency services a number of minutes to realise there was also a baby in the car.
Det Garda Michael Carroll revealed how Neisha Meehan was found dead a few minutes later under the passenger seat.
She was rushed to Letterkenny General Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Hanlon, who only had the car a month, also suffered serious injuries and went into a coma for eight days and missed the funerals of both his partner and his baby daughter.
The dead woman’s grieving mother, Ann Meehan, said she missed her daughter and her only grandchild every single day and wanted Hanlon to go to jail.
However, Judge O’Hagan said he thought this was a very special case and that Hanlon was not one of Donegal’s boy racers.
If he had pleaded not guilty and was found guilty by a jury, he said he would be looking at between four and five years in prison.
He also disqualified Hanlon from driving for eight years.
The Meehan family refused to make any comment after the verdict was given.