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A 19-year-old Cork City FC player was reminded today that he was going to have to live with the fact that his dangerous driving had caused the death of another man.
Edward Power McCarthy, 19, of 66 College Avenue, Moyross, County Limerick, received a two-year suspended jail sentence and a seven-year driving ban in Cork Circuit Criminal Court today, where he pleaded guilty. .
The charge said he was guilty of dangerous driving that caused the death of Andrzej Obalek on February 18 in Ballybeg West, Buttevant, County Cork.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin repeated to the defendant that he was going to have to live with what the dead man’s sister had told him in her victim impact statement.
She said, “You have stolen my brother from me.
The 55-year-old Pole who was killed in the head-on collision was a Jehovah’s Witness and was driving home to Cork City after visiting friends in Limerick that night.
Sergeant Tony Cronin said the defendant was driving back in the direction of Buttevant after attending training with Cork City FC at CIT that night.
The young man escaped with minor injuries as did his three passengers. However, the deceased’s car was hit in the front when the defendant’s car rolled on the wrong side. The deceased was thrown into a ditch and died instantly.
Sergeant Cronin said the defendant was driving his Audi A3 at excessive speed.
The defense read a letter from the defendant in which he expressed his deepest condolences to the family of the deceased.
He said it was a routine trip and that he never intended to cause anyone such loss with his actions. But he said it ended in horror.
“I pray to God for him and his family every day,” said the young man.
Judge Ó Donnabháin said it was a difficult case with an aggravating factor, namely speed.
The judge said that one would not need to use that road very often to find out how bad the Ballybeg corners are. The judge said it was not that the driver was caught off guard by the curves, but rather that he lost control as a result of his own excessive speed.
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