Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FREE football pullout ORANGEMAN GETS 12MTHS FOR CAR RAMPAGE
Thug, 63, seriously injured teen when he drove into crowd at parades dispute
AN Orangeman who badly injured a teenage girl when he drove into a crowd at a parades stand-off was yesterday jailed for a year.
Six people, including police officers, were hurt when John Aughey, 63, rammed into them near Ardoyne shops in North Belfast in July 2015.
The 16-year-old, who was trapped under the thug’s car until rescued by cops, suffered multiple fractures.
Judge Patricia Smyth told Aughey: “The impact of your offending has had long-lasting effects on her.”
THE actions of police prevented a “catastrophe” when an Orangeman drove into a crowd and seriously injured a teenage girl, a court heard yesterday.
John Aughey, 63, was jailed for 12 months after he was found guilty earlier this year of six offences arising from the collision in July 2015.
Six people, including several police officers, were injured after he tried to make a U-turn into a parking bay.
His Nissan Pulsar collided with those standing, resulting in horrific injuries suffered by a 16-year-old who was hit and thrown on to the bonnet before being trapped underneath.
She suffered fractures to her collarbone, pelvis and ankle – and was rescued after the vehicle was lifted on to its side by police and others at the scene. At Belfast Crown Court Judge Patricia Smyth told him: “But for the determined and frantic efforts of the police, the consequences could have been catastrophic.”
While she was under the car, Aughey, of Brae Hill Park, in the north of the city, drove over her and she was dragged under the wheels for three seconds.
The girl later said she felt had Aughey run over her a second time, she would have died.
Judge Smyth spoke of the teenager “suffering a great deal psychologically and physically”.
She told the thug: “The impact of your offending has had long-lasting effects on her.”
During the trial, the jury was shown CCTV footage which showed tensions at the interface were heightened after a Parade Commission’s ruling banned an Orange lodge and flute band from returning past the nationalist Ardoyne shop fronts in North Belfast.
As Aughey was making his way home, his vehicle stopped at traffic lights, with his window down and his Lodge insignia visible on his shirt.
Denying he deliberately drove at the crowd, he claimed as he sat in traffic on the Upper Crumlin Road, he became aware of abuse coming in his direction.
He said after a missile hit his car and his wing mirror was kicked, in a “blind panic” he tried to perform a U-turn to get back “to the safety” of police lines. Aughey also denied having any recollection of hitting anyone, insisting he acted out of fear.
His defence was rejected by the jury, who convicted him by a majority of 11 to one on all six offences including two of actual bodily harm as well as causing the teenage girl grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving.
Judge Smyth branded the case as “unique” and as Aughey stood in the dock, he was told: “Had it not been for the fact that you found yourself in a threatening situation, you would have continued on your journey and no offence would have been committed.”
However, the judge said when carrying out the U-turn, there was an “obvious danger members of the public who were present on and off the road would suffer serious injury”.
It emerged during the trial that after injuring the teenager and others including a community worker, police tried to get Aughey to stop.
Judge Smyth said him: “You continued to drive after the initial collision, in the face of police attempts to stop you.”
As well as being jailed, Aughey will serve a year on licence, was banned from driving for two years and will be required to re-take his driving test.