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29/07/2008
No Jail After 'Inattention' Caused Friends Deaths In Crash
A Donegal woman has walked free from court after escaping jail for dangerous driving causing the deaths of her two friends.
Louise Cantwell, a 24-year-old beautician from Carndonagh, Co Donegal, was found guilty of the driving offence which led to the deaths of Alice Mullen and Kelly Doherty, who were both in their early 20s.
The victims, who were also from Carndonagh, died as a result of the horrific head-on collision near Redcastle in Co Donegal on March 19, 2005, at about 3.30am.
In Letterkenny Circuit Court on Monday, Judge Martin Nolan said he could not find the evidence to support suspicions raised during the trial that the accident had been the result of a 'boy-racing' or 'girl-racing incident'.
Judge Nolan said if there had been evidence of such activity, Cantwell would certainly be going to jail.
But he said he could not find any aggravating circumstances of speed or recklessness, adding that inattention had caused the accident.
He sentenced her to three years in prison, which he suspended, and disqualified her from driving for five years.
The court had been told that the defendant's car was on route from a nightclub in Redcastle when the collision occurred and that, ironically, they had started their evening at a benefit in memory of another friend, Shane Toye (19), also from Carndonagh, who had died in a crash the previous year.
Cantwell's Corsa was coming around a sweeping right-hand bend when it crossed the continuous white line.
It ended up in the wrong carriageway and struck an oncoming car.
(DW)
Louise Cantwell, a 24-year-old beautician from Carndonagh, Co Donegal, was found guilty of the driving offence which led to the deaths of Alice Mullen and Kelly Doherty, who were both in their early 20s.
The victims, who were also from Carndonagh, died as a result of the horrific head-on collision near Redcastle in Co Donegal on March 19, 2005, at about 3.30am.
In Letterkenny Circuit Court on Monday, Judge Martin Nolan said he could not find the evidence to support suspicions raised during the trial that the accident had been the result of a 'boy-racing' or 'girl-racing incident'.
Judge Nolan said if there had been evidence of such activity, Cantwell would certainly be going to jail.
But he said he could not find any aggravating circumstances of speed or recklessness, adding that inattention had caused the accident.
He sentenced her to three years in prison, which he suspended, and disqualified her from driving for five years.
The court had been told that the defendant's car was on route from a nightclub in Redcastle when the collision occurred and that, ironically, they had started their evening at a benefit in memory of another friend, Shane Toye (19), also from Carndonagh, who had died in a crash the previous year.
Cantwell's Corsa was coming around a sweeping right-hand bend when it crossed the continuous white line.
It ended up in the wrong carriageway and struck an oncoming car.
(DW)
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