A BANNED DRIVER who killed a bride-to-be just hours after she had been shopping for her wedding dress has been jailed for five years.

Laura Connolly died after she was struck by a van which failed to stop on the outskirts of Lifford in the early hours of 11 July 2021.

The driver of the van, Sean Connaughton (54), failed to stop at the scene on the N15 road at Townspark in Lifford, Co Donegal. 

The former firefighter claimed he did not realise he had struck anyone and drove on without stopping. He was already disqualified from driving for four years from 10 April 2020, for not having insurance on a previous occasion.

Passing sentence on Connaughton today, Judge John Aylmer said there were a number of aggravating factors and placed the charges at the upper end of the scale.

He said the most aggravating factors included that Connaughton was driving while disqualified, that he was driving at speed and that he failed to keep a proper lookout and failed to see another car flashing its headlights at him and also pedestrians warning him of the “hazard” on the road ahead.

Ms Connolly was lying in the middle of the road after being struck by the van. 

He initially sentenced Connaughton to seven years for dangerous driving causing death, five years for leaving the scene, six months for driving without insurance and six months for driving without a licence.

In mitigation, Judge Aylmer took into account the accused man’s guilty plea, the fact that he handed himself into gardaí the morning after the incident and that he appeared to be genuinely remorseful.

The judge also noted that Connaughton had lost contact with his two adult children as a result of the incident and that he had received a death threat forcing him to leave his native Donegal and move to Dundalk.

He also took into consideration the fact that the accused man had been a firefighter and had served the community for 25 years and that the Probation Service had placed him at a moderate risk of reoffending.

Judge Aylmer said there appeared to be a significant lack of acceptance of culpability, however.

Having considered all mitigation, Judge Aylmer reduced the sentence for dangerous driving causing death from one of seven years to one of six years, while he reduced the sentence of five years for leaving the scene of the incident to one of four years and three months.

He also reduced both six month sentences for not being insured and not having a driving licence to five months on each count.

He added that he noted the Probation Service said there was room for rehabilitation for the accused and to encourage that he was suspending the final 12 months of the six years sentence.

All sentences are to run concurrently, meaning Connaughton will serve a total of five years in prison.

Judge Aylmer also banned Connaughton from holding a driving licence for 15 years.

‘We didn’t get any justice’

Speaking immediately after the sentencing, Rosemary Connolly, the mother of Laura Connolly, said her family do not feel they have got justice for what happened to her daughter.

Speaking outside Letterkenny Courthouse, she said: “We didn’t get any justice for our daughter’s death. The runaround that he gave us, right up to today. Postpone, postpone, postpone. The family is destroyed and wrecked. The five years will never bring my daughter back.

“We’ll never be able to get over that. We can hardly get through every day as it comes. We can’t celebrate birthdays, weddings. I don’t do any celebrations anymore. I don’t receive family gifts, birthday cards, Christmas cards or Mother’s Day cards,” she said. 

“My Laura was the love of my life from the day she was born. She was a good mother and a good person. She loved life and she lived life to the full.”

She continued: “I want to thank Martin Gallagher and Rory Gallagher who helped Laura at the scene, my legal team and all my family who stayed with us from day one.

“I’ll never be able to move on. I have a broken heart every day that I get up. Laura is in my head 24-7, she never leaves it. I never leave the graveyard, to try and get some kind of peace.

Where is the justice for families who are left like me? There is none.

Father-of-two Connaughton, who had been leasing a pub in Castlefin at the time of the incident, initially fled to his partner’s home in Dundalk but presented himself at Letterkenny garda station the following day after hearing a woman had been killed

Letterkenny Circuit Court previously heard how Laura Connolly had been out socialising with friends and had been lying on the road after laughing and joking with friends.

Just hours earlier, she had been out shopping for her wedding dress.

Ms Connolly had been due to marry her childhood sweetheart Joseph McCullagh, whom she had been dating since she was just sixteen years old.

Previous court hearings

Connaughton, with an address at Doolargy Avenue, Dundalk, Co Louth, pleaded guilty to one charge of dangerous driving causing death.

He was then arraigned on three further charges of failing to keep a vehicle at the scene of an accident, driving without insurance and driving without a valid driving licence.

The court previously heard that Ms Connolly was amongst five women who were walking along a footpath at Townspark, Lifford when the incident occurred approximately 200 metres from the ‘Three Coins’ roundabout.

One of her friends, Demi Carlin, said she had been in great spirits and had been laughing, dancing and singing and then lay on her back in the middle of the road with her head resting on the centre white line.

Carlin said the other women in the group had walked on and didn’t realise that Ms Connolly was lying on the road.

The friend then said she heard a vehicle coming and was shouting at Laura to get back on the footpath and was waving at her that something was coming.

Carlin said she noticed the van, which was coming from the direction of Castlefin, was going really fast and that she had thought the driver had tried to swerve to avoid her friend on the road.

The van drove over Ms Connolly, failed to slow down and then drove off without stopping.

The court was also told that a medical report compiled by pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers said the cause of Ms Connolly’s death was as a result of blunt force traumatic injuries.

Crawford told how Connaughton presented himself at Letterkenny Garda Station the following day after hearing of the accident.

During interview, Connaughton denied being involved in any accident and said that he was a trained paramedic and that if he hit something he would have stopped.

Evidence was also given from Connaughton’s personal iPhone of calls and texts being made before and after the time of the collision and that there was no reference to any incident.

There was also no attempt made to wash or clean Connaughton’s Citroën Berlingo van before it was driven to the garda station.

A subsequent forensic examination of the van, however, found DNA which was a match to the late Ms Connolly.

The court was told that Connaughton has 16 previous convictions, including five under the Road Traffic Act, two under the Larceny Act, and others connected to Covid regulations while operating a licensed premises.

Barrister for the accused, Colm Smyth SC, with Peter Nolan BL and instructed by solicitor Frank Dorrian, told the court that a verified threat had been made to Connaughton and his family and that is why he moved from Donegal.

Since the threat, Connaughton no longer had contact with his two adult children.

The accused man took to the witness stand and said whatever he had to say to the Connolly family would be of no comfort to them.

He added that he can never imagine what they have suffered but said he was sorry from the bottom of his heart.

He added that he accepts he has to live with what he did every day, adding that if he had obeyed his driving ban “Laura would have been alive.”

A reference from the Donegal Fire Service was handed into court which said Connaughton provided training and education to other firefighters in various skills and abilities while stationed in Glenties.

Smyth said his client had been placed at a moderate risk of reoffending by the Probation Service, given his previous convictions and non-compliance, but that he did acknowledge the tragic outcome of what had happened.

Smyth said his client was experiencing symptoms of prolonged psychological reaction and is receiving medication for anxiety and high blood pressure.

He added Connaughton has to live with what he did every day and that it will stay with him forever “while he is in this world” and “long after the sentence that will be imposed.”