Keating heartbreak: Star condemns ‘damaged system’ as brother’s crash driver walks free.
Pop Star Ronan Keating on stage with Boyzone in live performance at York Racecourse.
Credit score: Shutterstock, Mick Atkins
Pop star Ronan Keating has expressed his outrage over the heartbreaking court docket verdict that noticed the motive force who brought on his brother’s demise stroll free with out serving a single night time behind bars.
As beforehand reported by the todaysviralmedia, Ciaran Keating, 57, was travelling along with his spouse Annmarie to look at their son, Ruairí, play soccer when his Ford Focus was struck head-on by a 22-year-old motorist’s Audi A3 on the N5 close to Swinford, Co Mayo, in July 2023. Ciaran died on the scene, and Annmarie was so severely injured that she was unable to attend her husband’s funeral.
The controversial verdict
This week, Castlebar Circuit Prison Court docket handed driver Dean Harte a 17-month suspended sentence and a two-year driving ban for careless driving inflicting demise and critical damage – sparking outrage among the many Keating household. The court docket heard that Harte had veered onto the mistaken facet of the street shortly after sending a WhatsApp message and had traces of hashish in his blood, although he claimed it was from a celebration days earlier than.
Decide Eoin Garavan pointed to “no proof of intoxication, no velocity points” and “no egregious instance of earlier harmful driving” as elements that saved Harte out of jail. He had additionally provided a letter of regret, which the Keating household refused.
Ronan’s assertion
Moments after the decision, the Boyzone star took to Instagram, posting:
“Today’s sentencing was a devastating instance of simply how damaged our justice system is. You may kill a person… and you may stroll free. Not even a single night time in jail. Only a slap on the wrist and a ticket to hold on together with your life, like nothing ever occurred.
“And then we surprise why we maintain seeing this sort of behaviour on our roads, why folks maintain dying in street accidents throughout Eire each week? It’s a joke and it’s morally corrupt that somewhat than attempting to repair our damaged system, all of them flip a blind eye.
“Shame on Dean Harte however more-so disgrace on everybody concerned on this course of that contributed to the heartbreaking end result for my household right now.”
He added; “We are going to proceed to battle for Ciaran’s justice.
At this time we consider all the opposite households who’ve discovered themselves in our place, and we pray that different households by no means do.”
The battle goes on
With heartbreak on the wheel and justice seemingly at a standstill, Ronan Keating vows his household will press on of their quest for what they see as true justice. For them, the decision delivered no closure – simply questions on a system they really feel has veered astray. Because the Keatings grieve, they’re urging Eire and its courts to steer the nation again onto a safer, fairer street.
Learn extra unique information in English from round Europe.
Learn extra Irish information.