Boy sentenced over fatal crash in which two teens died

A judge has described as “every parent’s worst nightmare” the circumstances of a crash that resulted in the deaths of two teenagers in Co Galway last year.

Judge Brian O’Callaghan was speaking at the sentencing hearing in Galway Circuit Court of a 15-year-old boy who pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing death.

Kirsty Bohan and Lukas Joyce, both aged 14, died following the single-vehicle crash at Glennagarraun, Headford in the early hours of Easter Monday 10 April last year.

The boy also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to a teenage girl arising out of the same incident.

He further admitted charges of driving without insurance and the use of a mechanically propelled vehicle without the consent of its owner, Christy Bohan.

After hearing evidence in the case, Judge O’Callaghan said a detention order would not be appropriate and bound the boy to the peace, under section 98 of the Children’s Act.

The court was told the crash occurred at around 5.40am when the Volkswagen Passat – driven by the then 13- year-old boy – crashed into a tree just after a bend on the L6127, a minor, country road.

Lukas Joyce, a front-seat passenger, died at the scene. Kirsty Bohan was pronounced dead a short time later at University Hospital Galway.

A now 15-year-old girl, who survived the crash, suffered what were described in court as extensive injuries.

She was present for the hearing as were the families Lukas Joyce and Kirsty Bohan. The accused was accompanied in court by his family.

Garda Donal Hallinan told prosecuting counsel Conall MacCarthy that no alcohol and drugs were present in the driver.

The court heard the four people in the car had been eating ice cream and making TikTok videos at the home of Kirsty Bohan prior to the crash.

Gda Hallinan said that it was dark at the time of the incident, conditions were described as wet, and there were showers in the vicinity of the scene.

A report by a forensic collision investigator indicated the ground speed at impact was 44 miles per hour (71km/h), that being more likely if braking had occurred.

Gda Hallinan said the car left the road approximately 16m from the point of impact, mounted a low ditch and became airborne for 8.5m. He said it had been calculated that the vehicle had a launch speed of approximately 96km/h.

The investigation determined that the four people in the car had arranged via Snapchat to go out on the night.

Gda Hallinan said that phone messages indicated Kirsty Bohan waited for her father to leave for work before driving the Volkswagen Passat to meet the others. The girl who survived the crash was the only member of the group who did not drive the car on the morning in question.

The court heard how the now 15-year-old boy, who was driving just prior to the crash, cooperated fully with gardaí. Of the moments before it, the boy later told gardaí: “I don’t know what it was. I was turning the corner. The car just went. I couldn’t stop it”.

The court was also given details of the lives of Kirsty Bohan and Lukas Joyce.

Gda Hallinan said Kirsty was a second-year student at Presentation College in Headford and lived with her parents and two sisters. She played camogie with her local GAA club and had a big interest in sport and art, and had a love for fashion.

Lukas Joyce was also a second-year student at Presentation College, Headford. He loved playing darts, soccer and GAA. He worked with his father, Joe, on the farm and loved basketball because it was the national sport of Lithuania, where his mother is from, the garda said.

In an emotional victim impact statement, Mr Joyce recalled that his son wanted to be a mechanical engineer and was doing well at school.

“The morning that I got the phone call that he passed away. I couldn’t believe it.” he said. “That week was very hard. It was very hard that night without him at home.”

Mr Joyce said he was upset that members of the media called to his house 24 hours after Lukas’ death and that he never gave permission for the use of his son’s photo.

“We’ll never forget him. He is always in our hearts and alway in our thoughts,” he said. “We’ll miss you. We’ll never get you back.”

In her victim impact statement, read in court by Gda Hallinan, the 15-year-old girl, stated that the impact the crash has had on her is “too big to explain”.

She said: “I miss Kirsty and Lucas so much. That night, we made the biggest mistake in going out. None of us meant for anyone to get hurt. Kirsty and Lucas lost their lives. So many people’s lives have been destroyed as a result of us going out that night. I live with the consequences of that night every day.”

Gda Hallinan agreed with defence barrister Michael F Collins that the group was engaged in “quite innocent fun” in the hour leading up to the crash. The garda also agreed that the accused has no previous convictions and “at all times” wanted to face up and accept responsibility for what happened.

Mr Collins said it was his impression from the evidence that the crash resulted from “driver error” with the car being driven at a speed “that was too much for the bend”.

He said that his client did not bring the vehicle but he did drive it and “participated in a teenage escapade that involved different drivers at different times”.

“It is significant in my submission that this escapade had a certain innocence to it. When they got to Kirsty’s house, they ate ice creams. They played a TikTok video. They were messing with a chair.

“As Gda Hallinan agreed, these are good kids. These are innocent children who were not involved in drink and drugs or anything like that. They were not out to be a menace or a scourge to society. They were not involved in boy-racing or reckless driving or anything like that,” he said, adding: “The consequences of this case are hard to grapple with”.

Mr Collins asked the court to note the requirements of the Children’s Act when it comes to sentencing minors, his client’s young age at the time, and how he acted in the aftermath.

He said that a probation report confirms the boy’s remorse and regret, and how his “life has changed forever”. His client has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he added.

“The sentence in my respectful submission, should take the least restrictive form that is appropriate in the circumstances,” Mr Collins said.

Judge: ‘No parent should feel in any way guilty about what happened. There are enough victims in this case’

Judge O’Callaghan said the harm done is so “tragic and specific”.

“One must also look at the accused’s moral culpability. It is clear that his actions and his driving are much less culpable than the consequences that flowed there from,” he added.

The judge said he had listened to the evidence, to Mr Collins’s submissions, and read the “very detailed” and “helpful” probation report.

“This case is quite simply every parent’s worst nightmare,” he added, and told the families present that “no parent should feel in any way guilty about what happened. There are enough victims in this case”.

He noted the accused’s young age, good record, and the fact that there was no issue with drink or drugs.

The boy, in the company of his mother, entered into a bond to keep the peace.