'I don't want to see him' says mother

Martin Anthony Paul McGonagle, who is in his mid-20s, and is from Sandbank Park in the City, was jailed for two years in December last year for causing the death of Ciaran Doherty by dangerous driving.

He was also ordered to serve 18 months on probation on his release, which is due imminently. In court McGonagle admitted taking cannabis and drinking beer before getting behind the wheel.

Still distressed by the sentence handed down to McGonagle, Mrs Doherty, who lives in Conway Park, Currynierin, said she is awaiting, with apprehension, confirmation from the authorities about McGonagle’s release date, having previously been told he could be released in as little as eight months. That eight months is up at the end of August.

“He is due out any time now. I still feel the same way about the sentence he received, I still feel that the justice system is all wrong and the sentence was way too light. It was just a big joke.

“When he gets out he is a free man, free to get on with his life.

“But I just wish when he does get out that he doesn’t stay around this town, because I don’t want to see him and I don’t want any member of my family to see him. He might have served his sentence, but we are still serving ours and always will be,” she said.

Mrs Doherty said she is dreading coming face-to-face with McGonagle: “I don’t want to even see him in the town, that’s how bad I feel.

“The fact that he took drink and drugs and took his car out that night...he should have known not to do that.

“You can destroy lives over the head of just not thinking.

“He has to do a year-and-a-half on probation when he gets out, but I don’t think that will make any difference whatsoever. I have been talking to young boys all along, Ciaran’s friends, who still come in here. I’m talking 20 to 21-year-olds, and even listening to them I know that kind of sentence wouldn’t scare them.

“It wouldn’t make them afraid to get into a car and go out even if they had taken drink or drugs.

“It’s all wrong,” she said, revealing that she and her husband Charlie still visit their son’s grave daily.

In the weeks after McGonagle was sentenced Mr and Mrs Doherty had a meeting with staff from the Public Prosecution Service after Charlie asked about the possibility of having the sentence elongated. They have ruled out formally re-visiting the case in court, but say they still have unanswered questions about what happened on the night of Ciaran’s death.

“We still have issues with the evidence that was put before the court but I could not go through another court case, I think it is best left now, but it has left me with a lot of anger,” she said.