Mother of teenager killed in car crash slams lenient sentence

The mother of a 16-year-old boy killed in a car crash in Lower Ormond has hit out at the jail sentence imposed on the driver of the car in which her son died.
Thomas Carroll, aged 24, of Ballingarry, Roscrea, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for the dangerous driving that led to the death of Adam Case, from Shinrone, in Nenagh Circuit Criminal Court recently. However, Judge Patrick Meghan suspended two years of the sentence, meaning Carroll will serve an 18 months sentence. He was also disqualified from driving for seven years.
The court was told that Carroll, who was 22 at the time of the accident, had only bought the car that day and had never driven on public roads prior to then. He was not covered by insurance, had no driving licence and was exceeding the speed limit on the date of the crash, which occurred on the Old Nenagh-Birr Road in the townland of Boston, Ballingarry, on August 1st 2017.
Sharon Case, the mother of the Adam, a back seat passenger in the car, said she was very upset over the “lenient” sentence imposed on Thomas Carroll.
After delivering what the judge called “a moving” Victim Impact Statement from the witness box at last Wednesday’s court, Ms Case burst into tears when the judgement was delivered.
“Why is his [Adam’s] life not worth more than that,” she sobbed, as she and her husband Eugene left the court. “His life is worth more than that.”
Speaking later to this newspaper, she said: “I would hate to see any other family go through this.
“What we have gone though in the past two years...there are no words to describe it.”
Ms Case said she had hoped that the maximum 10-year sentence for dangerous driving causing death would have been imposed on Thomas Carroll for causing the death of her eldest son.
Ms Case, who has a daughter, Sarah (8), a baby son, Rían (8 months) and a stepson, Oisín, said that one of the most heartbreaking moments for her and her family was receiving Adam’s Junior Certificate results in September 2017, just weeks after he died.
“He got amazing results in the exams - he out-shone himself - but he was not there to be proud of it.”
She said she was distraught that the court had imposed “a lenient” 18 months jail sentence on Thomas Carroll.
She feared the penalty imposed would establish a precedent that other families of similar road crash victims would have to face in the future.
“My heart goes out to Thomas Carroll’s family.
“But I could never forgive Thomas - I could never accept his apology.
“If there was no speed involved, yes, then maybe I could, but there was speed and there was o ncompetence involved. I’m never going to get over this never – never.
“We are not going to get Adam back.
“But if this is going to help somebody else, that is what I want.”