The owner of the bus involved in a crash which claimed the life of a teenage boy from Clara, Co Offaly, has received a four-month adjourned sentence and fines of €5,250 for road traffic offences.
Tullamore District Court yesterday heard that Ray McKeown, Collinstown, Clara, had previous convictions for road traffic offences. Bus driver Gerard Buckley, also from Clara, received fines totalling €1,250 for road traffic offences.
Michael White (15) died when the bus overturned near Rahan as it was bringing students from Clara to Killina Presentation secondary school on April 4th, 2006. The rear axle had broken away.
More than 30 students and the driver were taken to hospitals in Tullamore and Mullingar.
The court heard that McKeown had been charged with 11 road traffic offences. He pleaded guilty to most and was found guilty of seven offences, with others withdrawn or dismissed. He pleaded guilty to having no insurance although his solicitor, Dermot Scanlon, said his client had always believed it was insured because he had asked his insurance company to add the vehicle to his policy.
Judge John Neilan said this was not simply a case of a private car owner failing to insure his vehicle. McKeown was involved in the carriage of passengers and had "strict obligations" relating to his vehicle. Judge Neilan noted that he was convicted in Tullamore District Court last June for offences which included having no road tax or certificate of roadworthiness for another vehicle.
In February 2003, he was fined €75 for having no road tax.
He fined him €2,000 and sentenced him to four months in Midlands Prison, adjourning sentence until June 27th to allow a community service report to be drawn up. Judge Neilan said the sentence would be replaced with community service "if deemed appropriate". He was fined for other offences, including the failure to have a public service vehicle licence or road tax.
Gerard Buckley was fined €500 for driving with a provisional D licence, which allowed him to drive a coach, but only if he was accompanied by someone with a full licence. Judge Neilan dismissed the insurance and road tax charges against him because he was following his employer's instructions, but fined him €750 for two other traffic offences.
The court heard that neither man had been involved in transporting school children since the incident. McKeown now works with Waterways Ireland and Buckley is driving a lorry.
Students from Killina Presentation were in court yesterday, as were parents of the students on the bus. Bernadette Green, the solicitor representing the White family and others injured in the crash, said it would not be appropriate to comment on the verdict.