Sobbing '˜boy racer' is jailed over fatal crash

Judge Desmond Marrinan told a sobbing Shane Kinney he would spend four and a half years in custody and a further four and a half on supervised licence for what he described as “dreadful accident” which had left behind a scene of “devastation and carnage”.

Kinney (23), of Drones Road, Armoy, appeared in the dock of Antrim Crown Court after he was remanded in custody last Friday by the judge to await his sentence. He had pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily injury to two female passengers.

Standing beside Shane Kinney in the dock were his parents Sharon and Kevin Kinney who admitted trying to cover up their son’s role in the crash.

Kevin Kinney (52) was jailed for six months with a further six to be spent on supervised licence for perverting the course of justice.

Sharon Kinney, who had previously pleaded guilty to helping her husband tow away her son’s car, was handed a nine-month sentence suspended for two years.

The three-vehicle crash happened on the Cushandall Road on the outskirts of Ballycastle in the early hours of April 6, 2015.

It resulted in the death of Kinney’s 26-year-old cousin Robin Wilson, against whom he was racing, and a second man, 19-year-old Johnny Black, who had been driving towards the seaside town in his Peugeot car.

Seven other passengers were injured.

At a sentencing hearing, Judge Marrinan said Kinney and Robin Wilson had been racing for approximately 0.86 of a mile in what he described as “highly dangerous activity when Robin Wilson’s Bora came into contact with the rear of Shane Kinney’s Golf”.

The Bora then careered onto the wrong side of the road colliding with the car driven by Mr Black.

The judge told Shane Kinney that the aggravating factors were that he was involved in racing and that there were was more than one fatality. Kinney also left the scene, hid his car and advised another person not to go to the police.

The court heard that Kinney later claimed he had drunk three bottles of WKD but police were unable to breathalyse him.

Judge Marrinan said he accepted that Shane Kinney had now shown “genuine remorse.”

The judge said to his parents: “If you had had your way, his wrong doing would have been covered up and he would never have had to answer for his crimes.

“On any showing this was disgraceful and shameful behaviour.’’

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