Teacher jailed for crash in which pilot friend died
A SECONDARY school teacher who was three times over the alcohol limit when he crashed a Porsche, resulting in the death of a young pilot, has been jailed.
Joseph Farrell, 26, was before Longford Circuit Court charged with dangerous driving causing death on December 18, 2021.
Judge Kenneth Connolly sentenced Farrell to 28 months in prison, with the final 12 months suspended.
Garda Karl Foley toldthe court that Mr Farrell had been friends with victim Brian McGinnity, 24, and they had been socialising in Longford town on December 17, before agreeing to go to Mr McGinnity’s family home in Killoe.
The pair chose to drive Mr McGinnity’s Porsche 911, with Farrell getting behind the wheel. Garda Foley explained how, while coming around a left-turning bend on the Cullyfad road at Coolnahinch, Farrell lost control of the vehicle, veering on to the wrong side of the road and spinning anti-clockwise.
The rear driver’s side of the vehicle then collided with a tree, causing the car to rotate clockwise, until the front driver’s side of the car collided with another tree and was flipped on to its roof.
The weather was dry but it had started raining when Gda Foley arrived at the scene.
He observed a damaged vehicle lying on its roof with a male inside. Farrell was ‘hysterical’, ‘crying’ and there was a smell of alcohol from him. Gda Foley told the court Mr Farrell immediately said: ‘I was driving, it was my fault.’
The court heard that Farrell, of Stonepark, Ballymacormack, Co. Longford, was more than three times over the limit on the night. Farrell told gardaí: ‘I want to say how deeply sorry I am for what happened that night and I want to express my sympathies to the McGinnity family.’
He also pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and took responsibility.
Garda Foley told the court that there was no evidence of speeding or joy riding on the night of the incident.
A victim impact statement, read in court by Owen McGinnity, the father of the victim,
‘We can’t bring Brian back’
stated that this was not the first time his family had experienced loss. Brian’s mother passed away when he was eight years old.
‘There are no words invented yet which come close to describing the feelings we’ve had over the last two years,’ he said. However, the family did not want any severe punishment for Farrell.
We can’t bring Brian back but we know he wouldn’t want Joseph to suffer any more,’ he said.