A 17-year-old youth who killed a taxi-driver and a young friend in "a joyriding escapade that went wrong" has been jailed for seven years by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Ross Byrne and two accomplices, James Daly (17) and Edward Gavin (16), were chased at high speed by gardaí through the north and south inner city of Dublin for almost an hour in the early hours of January 11th, 2003.
In a stolen car, the youths sped through a red light at the junction of North Circular Road and Portland Row and smashed into the passenger side of a taxi driven by Robert McGowan.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and Mr McGowan (30) was cut from the vehicle and taken to Beaumont Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
The back-seat passenger in the stolen car, Edward Gavin (16), was taken to St James's Hospital where he died three days later.
Byrne, from Clanranald Road, Donnycarney, pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of Mr McGowan and Mr Gavin. He also admitted to unlawfully taking the car without the owner's consent. He had 48 previous convictions, eight of which were for stealing cars.
Daly, from Gloucester Place, Dublin, was jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty to allowing himself to be carried in a stolen vehicle. He had 35 previous convictions, seven for stealing cars.
Judge Hogan lifted a prohibition he had placed earlier on naming Byrne and Daly, following applications on behalf of Independent Newspapers, the Irish Examiner and RTÉ. He agreed he had no power to make a prohibition order.
Insp Anthony Gallagher told the court that Byrne and Daly were only 16 at the time and one of them described the incident as "a joyriding escapade that went wrong".
Judge Hogan said Byrne pleaded guilty to two very serious offences which have had and would continue to have long-term consequences, not only for himself and his family but for the families of Mr McGowan and Mr Gavin.
"He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter which carries a very severe penalty on one side of the balance sheet and there is aggravating factors concerning the driving of the car and I must have regard to the number and type of his previous convictions.
"Under those circumstances, I feel that the appropriate sentence would be one of 10 years. However, I will take into account his guilty plea, his co-operation with gardaí and his young age and for that reason impose a period of seven years detention."
Mr Patrick McGowan, father of the taxi-driver, told the court: "We've been a broken family since this happened. We go to the graveyard every Sunday and break down every Sunday. My wife is a nervous wreck over it.
"He has left a three-year-old son behind who keeps asking for his father. Robert's partner has not been coping too good either and has been very depressed."