Seven years imprisonment for 19-year-old after Garda death

Seven years imprisonment for 19-year-old after Garda death


THE family of Swinford-born Garda Robbie McCallion said they were disappointed that the driver of a car which struck him resulting in his death was not found guilty of his manslaughter.
Last Friday, Jamie McGrenaghan was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for causing the death of Garda McCallion when he struck the garda with a car while trying to escape a road block in Letterkenny on March 26, 2009. McGrenaghan (19) of Kerrykeel was found not guilty by a jury of the Swinford garda’s manslaughter but pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.
Speaking following the sentencing, family spokesperson, Marty Roughneen said the family of Garda McCallion were delighted with the outpouring of support from all parts of the country but were not happy that McGrenaghan had been found not guilty of manslaughter.
“We are very disappointed with the verdict last Friday. Members of An Garda SíochΡna do their duty day in and day out. protecting the communities in which they work. Their services are vital to the maintenance of law and order and that is what Robert was doing when he was fatally injured.
“Robert was in Tara Court for no other reason than he was carrying out his duty as a garda and, to say the least, we are heartbroken at the circumstances in which he lost his life, which should never have happened.
“Gardaí, as Robert did, often put themselves in situations where they risk life and limb. It is of vital importance that they are adequately protected when they are carrying out their duties and in particular that there are appropriate safeguards in place to ensure that the fate that befell Robert does not happen again,” he said.
Mr Roughneen was surrounded by members of Garda McCallion’s family as he spoke which included his parents Bob and Nancy, brother John, sisters Noirín and Deirdre and girlfriend Marie O’Donnell. They thanked gardaí for their support but especially his former colleagues.
“You have been amazing and we very much appreciate the efforts you have made on our behalf as well as the work both you and the State legal team put into this case,” Mr Roughneen said.
Garda McCallion was on duty in Tara Court, Letterkenny where Grenaghan and another male Cathal Dunleavy were attempting to steal a car in the early hours of the morning. Gardaí in a patrol car arrived and blocked the men’s escape route by putting their patrol car across the road.
McGrenaghan reversed his Peugeot car back nearly 100m before accelerating at the gardaí and swerving away to the left at the last second. He struck the patrol car and the stolen Toyota Corolla car, throwing Garda McCallion five metres up into the air.
The then 17-year-old claimed that he had spotted a gap between the patrol car and a wall, which was measured later to be almost nine feet wide, which he ‘went for’.
Garda McCallion received a serious head injury and died almost two weeks later in the Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.
The decision of the jury to find McGrenaghan not guilty of manslaughter was met by anger from some sectors of the public with reference made to Judge John O’Hagan’s direction to the jury where he said they should clear their minds of the fact that McCallion was a member of the Garda and approach their decision in a ‘cold and calculated’ manner.
Judge O’Hagan sentenced McGrenaghan to seven years for dangerous driving causing death and suspended the last year of the sentence. He further sent him to prison for three years for stealing a car and five years for the reckless endangerment of Garda Joanne Doherty and Garda Shane Lavelle when he drove at them.
He also sentenced him to three years for each of eight burglary and criminal damage charges at a caravan park which McGrenaghan had previously pleaded guilty to, with all sentences to run concurrently. McGrenaghan was disqualified from driving for life.