Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TEEN TAMPERED WITH CRASH LORRY’S BRAKES
Driver is acquitted of all charges linked to smash
A LORRY driver whose vehicle careered into a shopping centre had all charges dropped yesterday after it emerged a teenager had tampered with the brakes.
David Mcconnell, 55, had been charged with five motoring offences after the incident at Foyleside Shopping Centre in September 2016 which caused damage estimated at just over £200,000.
The charges were dismissed by District Judge Oonagh Mullan at the Magistrate’s Court in Derry.
Mr Mcconnell, from Seaview Street in North Belfast, was making deliveries to the Poundland Shop in Ferryquay Street when a 19-year-old man tampered with the braking system of the parked articulated lorry and trailer.
It then careered down Linenhall Street and struck buildings, street fixtures and parked cars before it crashed to a halt at the side of the shopping centre.
Last November the teenager admitted tampering with the brakes.
Ryan Doherty, from Durrow Park in the Bogside area of Derry, also admitted causing damage to the shopping centre, to the Primark Store, to a car, to fittings owned by Derry City And Strabane District Council and to property owned by Northern Ireland Transport.
He was jailed for 18 months at the city’s Magistrate’s Court.
At his sentencing hearing last November the court was told Doherty was one of three teenagers who were recorded on CCTV approaching the lorry. He was seen pushing the button of the primary braking system inside the cab of the parked lorry and the vehicle then rolled down Linenhall Street before turning into Newmarket Street.
Doherty’s defence barrister Stephen Mooney told the court “one can only have sympathy for the driver. This was an act of utter recklessness”.
Jailing Doherty and fining him £500, District Judge Barney Mcelholm described the teen’s actions as absolutely disgraceful.
He said: “He could have killed somebody. If anybody had been in the path of this lorry they would have been down.
“It had the impact of causing over £200,000 of damage but he did not think about that when he let the brake off. Obviously he thought it was funny but it was not in the slightest bit funny.”
Meanwhile, Mr Mcconnell contested the charges brought against him last September by the Public Prosecution Service.
The contest was heard by District Judge Mullan who, in her reserved judgment, dismissed all five charges.
He’d been accused of leaving a vehicle in a dangerous position at Linenhall Street, failing to set the hand brake, having a vehicle in a dangerous condition on the road.
Mr Mcconnell was also accused of failing to switch off the lorry engine and driving without due care and attention.
He was not in court yesterday to hear of his acquittal.
He thought it was funny but it was not in the slightest bit funny JUDGE BARNEY MCELHOLM DERRY MAGISTRATE’S