Driver jailed for seven years for causing death of teenagers

A man who caused the deaths of two teenage girls whilst driving at nearly twice the speed limit has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Kiea McCann, 17, and her best friend, 16-year-old Dlava Mohammed, died when the car they were travelling in struck a tree at Legnakelly, near Clones, on 31 July 2023.

Anthony McGinn, 61, with an address at Drumloo, Newbliss, County Monaghan, previously admitted dangerous driving causing the deaths of the teenagers.

The girls were on their way to a school ball at the Westenra Arms Hotel in Monaghan town.

McGinn was a friend of Ms McCann’s family and had offered to drive the girls to the event.

He also pleaded guilty to causing serious bodily harm to Ms Mohammed’s sister, Avin, who was one of two other teenagers in the car at the time of the collision.

In handing down the sentence, the judge noted that McGinn had been driving at 151km per hour (94mph) and had ignored the pleas of two passengers in the car to slow down.

He said that as a friend of the McCann family, he had been entrusted to drive the young people and by driving as he had, he had “shown an extraordinary breach of that trust”.

He said McGinn’s intention had been “to drive at a grossly excessive speed”.

The judge added that he had shown a “reckless disregard for the potential loss of life and serious injury”.

During a hearing last week, the court heard McGinn had been driving nearly double the 80 km per hour (50mph) speed limit in the moments leading up to the crash.

During proceedings, the court also heard that Ms McCann’s father, Franky, had arrived at the scene of the crash and carried out CPR on both Kiea and Dlava.

They were later both pronounced dead at the scene.

The court was told that Oisín Clerkin, who was a front seat passenger in the car, had asked Mr McGinn to slow down.

Ms Mohammed’s family had moved to Ireland in 2018, having fled from Syria.

In a victim impact statement, her father said they had moved to build their dreams; however, “Dlava’s dreams are now buried with her”.

Ms McCann was one of 11 children.

Addressing McGinn in court last week, Franky McCann said: “Because of the decision you made, you took our daughter from our lives and our hearts.”