The 16-year-old driver of a car, which crashed at speed killing his three teenage friends, drank 12 bottles of beer and a bottle of wine in the hours leading up to the tragic New Year Eve road crash, a court heard today.
The car in which the three teenagers were killed was purchased for €150 just days before the crash in Co Tipperary on December 31st 2008.
Today the driver of the car who is now aged 18 was jailed for two years and banned from driving for 12 years.
Thomas Clarke, from Silvermines, Co Tipperary pleaded guilty at Nenagh Circuit Court to dangerous driving causing the deaths of 14-year-old Stuart Donnellan, 16-year-old Padraig Bourke and 17-year-old Adrian O’Brien at Kilboy, Dolla, Co Tipperary on December 31st 2008.
The 18-year-old also pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol on the same date.
Two of the victims’ families were present for the sentencing hearing where the court heard garda forensic evidence that inappropriate speed was the primary cause of the crash, in which the car crashed into a tree and ended up in a ditch.
In her evidence Garda Olive McNamara said Thomas Clarke bought the 2005 white Opel Corsa from a 19-year-old girl on December 26th 2008, just days before the fatal crash.
She said Clarke used to “rally” the car around the forest at Silvermines and Potroe with friends and when he was not using it, he parked it beside Silvermines National School so that nobody knew he had it.
On the afternoon leading up to the fatal crash Thomas Clarke was seen drinking at various locations in Nenagh from about midday.
Following his arrest, he told gardaí he had consumed 12 bottles of Budweiser and a bottle of Buckfast wine over the course of the day.
The court heard the teenager was driving the car with four of his friends at around 7pm in the direction of Dolla when he overtook two vehicles on a bend on the road.
He was drinking a bottle of Budweiser while driving and one of his passengers, Kelsea Tiernan, who was 15 at the time and who survived the crash, told gardaí the teenager was “driving like a lunatic”.
Another passenger 17-year-old Adrian O’Brien who died at the scene, told him to “slow the f**K down” but he didn’t, the court heard.
An uncle of 16-year-old Padraig Bourke, the only passenger in the car wearing a seat belt, happened to be travelling in one of the cars that Clarke overtook.
Niall Bourke said the manoeuvre was dangerous and stupid as the car was travelling at speed on bend and there was an oncoming car.
The court heard that minutes later Thomas Clarke lost control of his car and it crashed into a tree at Kilboy, Dolla, Co Tipperary.
Fourteen-year-old Stuart Donnellan and 17-year-old Adrian O’Brien were killed and pronounced dead at the scene while 16-year-old Padraig Bourke was taken to Nenagh General Hospital where he died a short time later.
Kelsea Tiernan and Thomas Clarke were taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital with serious injuries.
During garda interviews Thomas Clarke admitted to gardai that he was drinking a bottle of Budweiser while driving the car and recalled that Adrian O’Brien told him to slow down.
He also admitted having no driving licence and no insurance.
At the end of the interview he broke down crying saying how much he loved the boys and how much he was going to miss them, the court heard.
His defence counsel Justin Dillon said his client had co-operated full with gardaí and he realised the “horror of what he had done” and showed full and complete remorse.
Garda McNamara said the accused had no previous convictions prior to the event and she was doubtful he would re-offend.
In a victim impact statement read out to the court Seamus Bourke the father of Padraig Bourke said he would never forget New Year’s Eve 2008 when the youngest of his nine children was killed.
He described his son as outgoing and friendly and said he had only gone out to play a game of pool but somehow he had ended up in car.
He said his wife Joan, who was undergoing treatment for terminal cancer at the time of the accident had been in a stable condition but her son’s death had a terrible effect on her condition and she passed away seven months later.
“Padraig’s death in this senseless accident had a terrible effect on me.. It has changed our lives forever,” said Mr Bourke.
Defence counsel Justin Dillon said his client had suffered catastrophic facial injuries in the crash for which there was little scope for further medical intervention.
He said the scars would serve as a constant reminder of the incident, which he described as the “most appalling error he will ever commit in his life”.
Mr Dillon said the 18-year-old was still grieving the loss of his friends and that he suffers from depression and has been called a murderer and was told by one of the victim’s brothers not to visit the grave.
School and medical reports and letters from Clarke’s school principal were handed to Judge Tom Teehan during the sentencing hearing.
Before imposing the sentence Judge Teehan said the case was one of the most difficult he had come across in a long number of years on the bench.
“I cannot lose sight of the appalling consequences of what happened and the serious aggravating factions should be known to all who consider embarking on such a path. The courts will not tolerate driving while drinking, driving dangerously and driving while speeding,” he said.
He said the public had not know that there is a strong deterrent and even the most powerful mitigating factors would not lead to the avoidance of a custodial sentence.
Judge Teehan imposed a four year sentence but suspended two years of the jail term.
He also disqualified Clarke from driving for 12 years.