This article is from page 4 of the 2006-10-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE judge who sentenced a young man to three years in jail for dangerous driving causing the deaths of two young Kilkee girls said the accident was “waiting to happen”.
Ennis Circuit Court heard that David Naughton was “rallying around” Kilkee, in the minutes leading up to the tragic crash which claimed the lives of Stacey Haugh and Lorna Mahoney, at Moyarta, Carrigaholt, on October 17, 2003.
Judge Con Murphy said there was “more than ample evidence that this young man was involved in a campaign of dangerous driving. It wasn’t just inadvertence that caused this DAVID Naughton is a young man who has lived “an extraordinary unstructured life,” deprived of family support from a very young age.
His sentencing hearing heard he has had little or no support from his parents who had separated. This was taken into account by the judge, in imposing sentence.
His barrister Martin Giblin said an “apology was not within his range accident, but a campaign of a long stretch of dangerous driving.”
Naughton (18), with addresses in London and Galway, was just one week short of his 16th birthday when he purchased an Opel Kadett car in Galway for €60.
He then drove to Kilkee with friends, picked up Stacey Haugh, her brother Karl and Lorna Mahoney, and headed for Carrigaholt. Naughton was driving, a friend was in the front, while Stacey, Karl and Lorna were in the back of the car.
Naughton overtook a car “very aggressively” between Kilkee and Carrigholt, at a speed of up to 80 mph.
He was unable to take the bend and of social skills,” and “running away was the result of a panic attack he suffered” in the aftermath of the accident.
Mr Giblin said Naughton had always denied driving dangerously, never set out to kill or injure anybody and now accepted he must be punished.
Naughton was born in the UK, where he had spent most of his short life.
He was brought to Westside House, hit a wall at Moyarta, Carrigaholt. The car crossed the road and hit a ditch on the opposite side. The girls lost their lives in the severe impact, while Karl was taken to hospital for emergency surgery. He survived. A short time earlier, gardaí received a complaint that Naughton was driving dangerously, at 60 mph, around the carpark of the Kilkee Bay Hotel.
Naughton told gardaí that he had been travelling at 55 mph and was blinded by lights of an oncoming car. Naughton – who had previously lived in Kilrush – said he had been driving in fields since he was 12.
Prior to the fatal accident, Naughton had no previous convictions. a unit for homeless adolescents in Galway by the social services in the UK, in June 2003, just four months before the accident.
Naughton’s father is from Galway, while his mother has spent some time living in Kilkee.
The court heard that Naughton had claimed he was sexually assaulted by a relative in the UK at a young age and that he had shown “clear signs of suicidal ideas” since the accident.
Mr Giblin said that while the famiThat subsequently changed, as he has since been convicted of a number of offences in the UK. His barrister Martin Giblin, SC, said the two girls asked Naughton to take them for a drive, but according to their families, he pressurised them into getting into the car.
“They weren’t grabbed by the scruff of the neck and thrown into the car,” said Mr Giblin.
Judge Murphy said the case was “most harrowing” and was on the “graver scale” of dangerous driving causing death. The three year sentence was backed to July 26, when Naughton was extradited from the UK to Ireland. lies of the deceased might believe he had run away to avoid the charges, the reality was he was “incapable of dealing with the stresses of what he had done, because of his upbringing.”
“He lacks the social skills to apologise. He doesn’t know how to do it. He ran away because he couldn’t cope.”
He said it was accepted that a 15year-old should not be behind the wheel of a car. “It’s like putting a loaded gun in his hand. Tragedy is bound to happen,” he said.
Several psychological reports relating to Naughton were presented to the court, one of which stated that he did not receive the necessary assistance from the social services, because he was “moving backwards and forwards” from the UK.
Another report stated that Naughton had a “vivid” recollection of the crash which killed two girls who he referred to as his “friends”.
He has had nightmares about the accident and never intends to visit the location of the crash.
Naughton had a clean record before he fled to the UK, but has since amassed a number of convictions.
His barrister said his behaviour was “post accident reaction for offences he wasn’t in the habit of committing before the accident.”