Driver who caused crash that killed girlfriend remanded in custody

A driver convicted of causing a crash that killed his girlfriend in Co Meath three years ago was remanded in custody at Trim Circuit Court on Thursday.

Judge Martina Baxter remanded Kenneth Darby (30) with an address at Ashfield, Clonard, Co Meath in custody ahead of him being sentenced in late November.

A jury found him guilty in July of dangerous driving causing the death of Jenna-eve Smyth (25) on June 18th 2016 at Kilmurray, Enfield on the Kinnegad to Enfield road.

After the verdict the case was adjourned to Thursday when the court was told the victim’s mother Breda had since suffered a heart attack and died.

Victim impact statements were read to the hearing by state prosecutor Carl Hanahoe BL on behalf of three of Jenna-eve Smyth’s sisters.

Hazel Smyth said Jenna-eve had been full of generosity and modesty and had only seen the good in people.

“Customers coming into the family business still speak fondly of her,” she said.

The memory of having to go to Connolly hospital on the night of the crash, hearing her mother wailing and her father sobbing and being told nothing could be done for her sister still haunted her.

Carla Smyth described Jenna-eve as an energetic, vibrant and lovable person who had made a lasting impression on everyone she met.

She added that she believed if her sister was still alive her mother would be too.

Heather Smyth said she had to come home from Australia and go straight to the morgue after hearing of the crash and now suffered from depression.

Defence barrister Damien Colgan SC said his client accepted the verdict of the jury and had instructed him to apologise and express his remorse to the Smyth family for their pain and suffering.

Judge Baxter offered her sympathy to the victim’s family and remanded the defendant in custody for sentence on 27th November.

Lost control

An earlier court sitting heard the defendant’s car had rounded a gentle sweeping bend and had been on the wrong side of the road when it crashed sideways into the front of an oncoming vehicle.

Ms Smyth had been a front seat passenger in the defendant’s car.

Paramedics who attended the scene told the court the defendant had been able to talk when taken from his car but the victim had been unresponsive.

Gardaí who examined the scene told the court the road where the crash occurred had been wet and greasy on the night and neither occupant in the defendant’s car had been wearing seat belts.

Garda Thomas Brennan, the forensic collision investigator, said he concluded the crash was due to driver error as Darby had lost control of the vehicle.

After the jury of seven men and five women returned the guilty verdict in July the victim’s father Des Smyth addressed the court. He said Jenna-eve had been working in the family’s shop in Mullingar at the time of her death.

He said that after she had secured her university degree she insisted on working in the family business with him to get the money to study for a master’s degree.“She stole everyone’s heart and was the most lovable little girl anyone could think of. I still think she is going to come running down that hall but I know that’s not going to happen,” he said.