A WEST Belfast youth was jailed for three years for killing his best friend and seriously injuring a nun while driving a 'run around car' at speeds of up to 100 mph.
Jailing the 17-year-old at Downpatrick Crown Court, Judge Piers Grant described the defendant's driving as "appalling''.
Conal Daly, also from west Belfast, was a back seat passenger in the 'run around' Jaguar car which crashed at speed into a vehicle being driven by a 75 year-old Catholic nun in her 70s.
She suffered two broken legs as a result of the accident and can only walk short distances with the use of sticks.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mr Daly almost two years ago on the Saintfield Road in Carryduff and causing grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving to Sister of Mercy nun Josephine McAteer.
He further pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, two counts of assault on police and causing criminal damage to a PSNI vehicle.
All the offences were committed on October 16, 2014 between 8pm and 9pm on roads between junction of the Ravenhill Road/Ormeau Road rounabout and the Saintfield Road in Co Down.
Prosecution counsel Charles McCreanor QC said the defendant was the driver of the car - at times doing speeds of up to 100mph - which police were purusing "with sirens on and lights flashing''.
As the car rounded a bend on the "wrong side'' of the Carryduff Road, it collided head on into a Volkswagen Polo being driven by the nun.
The court heard Conal Daly was a rear seat passenger who was not wearing a seatbelt. He died of "several multiple injuries''
Interviewed by police, the defendant said he had "had no memory of the driving in question''.
Neil Rafferty QC, defending, said the youth suffered from ADHD and at the time, he had just turned 16, he also had a number of "social issues'' and had got involved with "serious drugs''.
The court heard the youth had suffered a "significant brain injury'' as a result of the accident and there was "significant and genunine remorse in this case''.
Jailing the youth Judge Piers Grant described the death of Mr Daly as an "tragic and irreplaceable loss to his family" and one that "no sentence this court can impose will bring him back."
