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A man who fatally beat a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Co Offaly last year while texting behind the wheel was sentenced to two years in prison.
Eric Dunne, 26, of Belair, Ballycumber, Co Offaly, was found to be texting from his mobile phone seconds before his Hyundai Santa Fe jeep fatally struck Aoife Doyle as she and her best friend Cara Cronly walked. on R436 Clara to Ballycumber Road in Erry, Clara on March 20, 2020.
Dunne pleaded guilty last November to dangerous driving that caused death before today’s sentencing hearing before Judge Keenan Johnson.
The court heard that Dunne told Gardaí that he had been shopping with his girlfriend in Tullamore the day the collision occurred.
He said he did not recall seeing the two schoolgirls walking on the side of the road or if the lights on a jeep he had bought for his father just over a week earlier were on.
“All I remember was the explosion,” he said, and he also didn’t recall texting from his phone in the minutes leading up to the tragedy.
In a letter written by Dunne and read on his behalf by defense attorney Des Dockery SC, the former overnight operations courier supervisor expressed remorse over the incident.
“I wish it was me instead of Aoife,” he said.
“She would be here today if it weren’t for my stupidity. I can honestly say I didn’t see her and there isn’t a day or night that I don’t think about her.”
The court was told that Dunne was also an unaccompanied learner driver when the incident unfolded.
The future father, who had been suffering from a “crippling anxiety condition” prior to the tragedy, had been driving for eight years and took his driving test three separate times, failing each time.
“I would gladly take her (Aoife) place,” he told the court.
“I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I know you must hate me, maybe one day you’ll forgive me. I’m sorry and always will be.”
The victims’ impact statements were also read by Aoife’s friend Cara Cronly and her aunt Emer Doyle, who conveyed the daily anguish that Aoife’s death has left behind.
“We thought we would grow old together,” Cara said.
“We knew everything about each other. We had so many secrets together. I miss her and find it difficult to see a future without her.”
For his part, Doyle said the void left by Aoife’s death had brought incalculable personal hardship to her parents, Oonagh and Damien, as well as the Doyle family at large.
“One of the hardest days in all of this was her 15th birthday on September 20, six months after the day she was murdered,” Ms. Doyle said.
“Instead of giving him cake, we were putting flowers on his grave. We are devastated beyond repair. The shock of Aoife’s death has changed his life and there are no words to capture that.”
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Johnson described the circumstances surrounding the case as “horrible” and “heartbreaking”, and described Aoife as a child who was “full of vitality, ability and talent.”
In determining sentencing, Judge Johnson said the case focused on two “main aggravating factors,” being the fact that Dunne was texting and using a mobile phone at the time of the incident, which was compounded by the revelation that it was in a pupil. permission and unaccompanied.
He referenced a 2015 campaign by the Highway Safety Authority showing how texting while driving increases the chance of an accident 23 times.
In light of those statistics, Judge Johnson urged automakers to follow the example set by the US in adopting phone apps that prevent drivers from texting while driving.
“Consideration should also be given to lobbying phone and car manufacturers on mandatory installation of technology that prevents drivers from texting,” he said.
Judge Johnson sentenced Dunne to three years and six months in prison, suspending the last 18 months for five years subject to a number of conditions.
They included stipulations that Dunne sign a bond of peace, commit to probation services for 18 months after release, and liaise with mental health services and psychology services.
Judge Johnson also disqualified Dunne from driving for a ten-year period.
“Some may feel that given the tragic consequences of the crime, the sentence is too lenient,” he said, adding that he would be thinking of Aoife’s family on Saturday in what will be the first anniversary of her death.
“However, I believe that the sanction is measured, fair and equitable.
“The sentence is structured not so much to punish the defendant, but rather to deter others who might be tempted to text while driving and to emphasize the fatal dangers such activity brings.”
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