This article is from page 8 of the 2006-04-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE mother of a teenage girl killed in a road crash in county Clare almost three years ago, says the Irish authorities cannot afford to miss the next opportunity to extradite the alleged driver of the car back to Ireland as soon as he is released from a young offenders home in England.
Last week, David Naughton, from Galway, was jailed in London for offences there.
He is alleged to have been driving the car in which Lorna O’Mahony (13) and Stacy Haugh (16) were killed in a crash in Carrigaholt, in October 2003.
Lorna’s mother Geraldine said, “We have been waiting a long time and all we want is justice to be done and some element of closure for the families.”
Naughton, who was only 16 at the time of the crash, resided at a voluntary residential care unit in Galway before he fled the jurisdiction over two years ago.
After he was originally remanded to St Patrick’s Institution in Dublin, Naughton was granted bail at Ennis District Court.
He was later returned to St Patrick’s for breaching his bail conditions but was again released after telling a court that he had been assaulted by other inmates while in custody. Soon afterwards, he fled to England.
Mrs O’Mahony has already expressed concern that not enough has been done by the Department of Justice here to see the accused returned to Ireland.
“The authorities have not kept us informed and they will have to be ready to bring him back here as soon as he is released in a few months,” she said.
“The local guards didn’t even know what was going on but the local Superintendent was in touch with me on Thursday and has assured me that he will notify us as soon as there is any news,” she added.
Naughton faces two charges of dangerous driving causing death, one of driving without insurance and another of driving without a drivers licence.