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Three years' jail for killing four people
Page 16
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AN IRISH TRUCK driver has been jailed for three years for dangerous driving after his truck hit a car, killing four people.
Michael McGrath of Co Carlow had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. Clonmel Circuit Court heard how Mary Dalton, her daughters Kathleen and Mary and her grandson Robert were all killed when their silver Audi was involved in a head-on-collision with McGrath's truck as they drove along the main Cork to Dublin road at Cahir, Co Tipperary on 22 January 2004.
The court was told that truck driver Liam Murphy, who drove behind the defendant for over II miles, saw McGrath's truck stray across the white line twice. He thought the driver was tired so he sounded his horn and flashed his lights but nothing happened.
Further down the road he saw the truck drift onto the wrong side of the road, causing oncoming drivers to flash their lights.
McGrath's truck finally hit a van, causing it to spin sideways before continuing into the path of the Audi.
Passing sentence, Judge Michael O'Shea said there were serious aggravating factors in the defendant's driving leading up to the accident and he was satisfied that a custodial sentence was appropriate. He also banned McGrath for driving for 15 years.