[ad_1]
A motorist in Northern Ireland who killed a cyclist and seriously injured another has been jailed for five years and banned from driving for life, with footage of the fatal crash captured by a camera on one of the rider’s bikes, as well as a dashcam on an ambulance that was passing the scene, whose crew stopped to give help.
Downpartick Crown Court heard that Arthur Robert McGrillen, aged 74 and from Killyleagh, County Down, had not declared that he had suffered a stroke several years earlier, a condition that may have resulted in his driving licence being revoked.
The pensioner also initially tried to blame cyclists Aidan Fitzpatrick and Ralph Mills for causing the crash on Sunday 20 October 2019 on the Killyleagh Road in Downpatrick, reports Belfast Live.
Mr Fitzpatrick died in hospital from his injuries two days later, with Ciaran Murphy KC, prosecuting, telling the court that McGrillen “drove through the cyclists without making any attempt to avoid them.”
After describing the “severe damage” that McGrillen’s car sustained after he crashed into the cyclists, the prosecutor added: “Mr Fitzpatrick’s black bike was found on the front offside of the Mercedes car and a wheel of his bike was found lodged under the front offside tyre.
“Mr Mills’ red bike was found at a roadside verge beside a parked lorry. His separated back wheel was found behind the lorry.”
The court heard that McGrillen had told a police officer at the scene that he “didn’t see” the cyclists, whom he subsequently claimed were “too wide on the road [and] were not riding in single file,” insisting that he “went to go around them and they bumped on top of my car.”
McGrillen, appearing in court via videolink from prison, had pleaded not guilty to charges of causing death by dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving, but changed his plea to guilty in May this year.
The prosecutor also told the court that despite having a stroke in 2017, McGrillen had not declared that when renewing his driving licence in 2018, nor had he disclosed it to his insurers, answering “no” on the section of a renewal form asking him for details of relevant medical conditions, including a stroke.
“Had he made a disclosure about his medical condition prior to the accident, we say it is reasonable to conclude that his licence would have been revoked,” Mr Murphy said.
“This is an aggravating feature in that had he made the appropriate disclosures he would not have been driving and the collision would not have occurred.”
Sentencing McGrillen to five years’ imprisonment for killing Mr Fitzpatrick and four years in jail, to run concurrently, for causing the injuries to Mr Mills, Judge Geoffrey Miller KC said the driver had “taken no steps whatsoever to avoid a full-on, nose-to-tail collision.”
Instead, he had “ploughed straight into” the cyclists, which the judge maintained “amounts to an exceptionally bad piece of driving which resulted in a fatality and serious injury.
“I am satisfied that this amounts to an aggravating feature of dangerousness in this case.
“He first blamed the cyclists and claimed he was not at fault. Had it not been shown in Mr Mills’ camera footage he might have persisted in this lie,” said the judge.
He added that McGrillen’s actions had caused “unbearable pain for [the] widow and family” of Mr Fitzpatrick, and had left Mr Mills in “constant pain, with survivors’ guilt and a joyless outlook on life.”
[ad_2]
Source link
