I rang to see where she was...but Kimberly was dead after crash outside our front door Mum tells court of ‘nightmare’ as 119kmh killer driver gets 4 years
A MUM told of the moment she found her girl was killed in a car smash yesterday – as the teen driver who caused her death was sentenced to four years.
Reckless Daniel Wyse, 17, was driving at least 119kmh in a 50kmh zone when he crashed leaving 16-year-old Kimberly O’connor dead and another pal disabled.
The accident was just yards from her house in Cork
In her victim impact statement, mum Jennifer Haynes told Cork Circuit Criminal Court she heard the noise of the collision.
She tried to call her daughter’s phone but it rang out.
Jennifer said: “I was waiting for my daughter to come home and I jumped with horror from the bang outside my door – with severe fright, we ran to the front door to discover the fatal car crash.
“I rang my daughter’s phone to see where she was – her phone at this stage was ringing out – little did I realise at that point that my child was lying dead in the car that had crashed in front of our house.
SPEED
“When we found out it was my child dead in the car, my whole world came crashing in on top of me – from that point on I wanted to die – I will never be able to come to terms with my child’s death.”
Ms Haynes described the incident as “every mother’s worst nightmare”.
She said: “Kimberly was a bright, bubbly happy girl. She didn’t deserve to die like that.”
Det Gda Brian Holland said the crash in Cork occurred shortly before 11pm on February 19, 2020,
Wyse, of Killiney Heights in Knocknaheeny, was driving at high speed in a car he had bought on Done Deal.
He overtook a taxi on Harbour View Road and crashed in to a bollard and a wall.
Kimberly and another teenage boy were passengers in the vehicle.
The court heard the car hit a kerb, a tree and a utility box before colliding with a metal bollard which ended up 45 metres away, while the cap on the bollard was catapulted through the upstairs window of a house.
The rear passenger door hit a concrete wall and the car spun around with the front passenger’s door colliding with a gate pillar, killing Kimberly who was less than 50m from her home at the time.
Det Gda Holland said that the victims had to be cut from the car.
The now 18-year-old male passenger initially lost the use of his limbs. He can now walk but needs ongoing physical and psychological support. He suffers from post traumatic amnesia and has no memory of the accident.
Det Gda Holland said the driver fled the scene.
Wyse bought the car on
Donedeal three days before the crash but after the fatal collision, he changed the information on the ad.
Wyse, who appeared by videolink from Oberstown detention centre, told the court he would forever regret his actions on the night which led to the loss of his “beautiful
friend” Kimberly.
Wyse pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of a Ms O’connor in the car and causing serious bodily harm to another male passenger. He also admitted failing to stop, driving without a licence and insurance and failing to give gardai appropriate information.
In sentencing Judge Sean O Donnabhain said that he had to take in to account that Wyse fled the scene and did not present to the Garda for weeks if not months. He added that Kimberly’s promising life was
“cut off against a pillar in Knocknaheeny” because of the speed of a driver who was underage and without a licence.
He imposed a sentence of eight years with four years suspended having taken the guilty plea and lack of previous convictions in to account.
Judge O Donnabhain told the court it was in the interest of the public that Wyse, 17, be named as he is subject to a 15-year driving disqualification. He said by lifting the reporting restriction the public would be aware of the driving ban and able to report him to the Garda if he got behind the wheel of a car. The Judge also lifted the restrictions under the Children’s Act which would have prevented naming the young victim.
He said it would be “unjust and unrealistic” that she not be identified. The judge noted that her mother was happy to have her daughter named in media reports.
TRIBUTE
Kimberly’s promising life was cut off, against a pillar in Knockaheeny.. appalling
JUDGE O DONNABHAIN LEFT