Man who admitted causing death of best friend in 90mph motorbike crash avoids jail

Sentencing Kieran Foster at Antrim Crown Court, Judge Alistair Devlin said that while ordinarily the 26-year-old would be jailed for causing the death of his best friend Steel Mercer, there was an accumulation of factors which merited an exceptional approach.

He told Foster among those features was the fact the accident happened more than four years ago, he entered a guilty plea at the first opportunity, his clear record, “genuine shock and remorse” for what happened and knowing that he caused the death of his best friend which “you must live with for the remainder of your life”.

At an earlier hearing, Foster, from Belsize Road in Lisburn, admitted causing the death of Steel Mercer by driving carelessly and while unfit on the Cullybackey Road in Ballymena on May 5, 2020.

Summarising the case against Foster, Judge Devlin outlined how the two best friends had been riding a Honda CBR 500 motorbike that afternoon when the motorbike was in collision with the off-side edge of a trailer being towed by a tractor.

The driver of the trailer told police he had been driving at around 20mph and there was traffic behind him when he heard a bang and when he looked to his right, he saw Foster and his pillion passenger “becoming unattached” from the motorbike.

Judge Devlin said, according to the tractor driver, there had been a red Citroen car directly behind him and when that driver was spoken to she told police she had looked in her wing mirror and when she saw the road was clear, pulled out to overtake the slow-moving tractor.

The court heard she accepted to police “she may not have signalled” or used her indicator as she began the manoeuvre but as her car drew level with the back of the trailer, she saw the motorbike clip the edge of it and the two friends fall off.

The judge said that Mr Mercer, who was 19, sustained significant head injuries “which resulted in his almost immediate demise” and he revealed that Foster was also seriously hurt.

The defendant, he told the court, also sustained injuries and multiple fractures and having spent three-and-a-half weeks in hospital including several days in intensive care and having to have a finger amputated, Foster “had to learn how to walk again”, had to have his left arm reconstructed, is still in constant pain and is unable to run.

It was while Foster was in hospital that a blood sample showed he had consumed cannabis but with levels of less than 0.1 mgs, the court heard the effect on his driving was difficult to determine.

Judge Devlin said that a specialist forensic engineer had examined the scene and its surroundings and he had obtained CCTV footage from four separate cameras.

That footage, said the judge, captured the motorbike travelling at two and three times to 30mph limit around one-and-a-half miles from the crash site and that as it approached the accident locus, the Honda was travelling at around 96mph in a 60 zone.

It was because of that “grossly excessive speed” that as the Citroen pulled out to overtake the tractor, Foster was unable to slow down enough or take evasive action to avoid a collision and instead, tried to get down the gap between the car and the trailer.

Judge Devlin highlighted however, that an unknown “imponderable” was that the driver and passenger of a silver VW Bora behind the Citroen car refused to help police ascertain what happened.

Due to their attitude, no one could be sure whether the Citroen driver had signalled their overtaking manoeuvre or not or whether they bore any responsibility for the fatal crash.

The judge said it was also clear that because of that, “there was no guarantee” Foster would have been convicted if he had taken the case to trial.

Judge Devlin said he had read a Victim Impact Statement from Mr Mercer’s mum Kirsty and thanking her for having the courage to write it, the judge told the court how “she speaks in moving terms of the impact of losing her son”.

He said she wrote of trying to do her best for her other son, Mr Mercer’s younger brother, but “I’m not the person I used to be - I know he sees the sadness in my eyes.”

"Steel was an amazing boy and was starting to shine in his new job,” writes Ms Mercer, “it breaks my heart and I long for him to walk back through the door.”

The judge said he assessed Foster’s culpability as moderate as there were no aggravating features outside of the offences themselves and while the harm caused was obviously high given the tragic death of Mr Mercer, Foster himself had been assessed as posing a low risk of further offences.

Judge Devlin said while the authorities were clear in that those who cause serious injury or death while drink or drug driving “do so at their peril” and with the knowledge they face a 14-year maximum jail sentence, Foster’s case was such that he could take an exceptional approach.

In addition to the suspended jail sentence, the judge also imposed a three-year driving ban.