THE daughter of a couple who were killed by a speeding driver, wept in court yesterday as a 20-year-old man was jailed for 14 months for causing their deaths.
Katie Weir described the sentence handed down to Charles Hugh Macartney as "a kick in the teeth" as she told of the heartache of living without her parents.
Earlier Newtownards Crown Court Judge Geoffrey Millar told Macartney, from Manse Court in Newtownards, that excess speed was “clearly the central feature” in the accident which killed Dean and Sandra Weir on St Patrick’s Day 2017.
The married couple were on their way from their home in Portavogie to meet friends in Dublin when Macartney lost control of his Nissan Micra car and crashed into their Suzuki Alto.
Prosecuting counsel Laura Ievers outlined how a dash cam seized from Macartney’s car showed he was driving at almost 90 mph when he lost control going around a bend on the Dunover Road, Ballywalter just before 9am and hit their car travelling in the opposite direction.
She said it had been raining at the time, the road was wet and there was “standing water” on the road in the lead up to the point of impact.
Mr Weir (52) died at the scene while his 52-year-old wife succumbed to her injuries a month later, dying in the arms of their only child.
Interviewed a few weeks after the crash, having suffered a spinal fracture himself, Macartney initially gave a “no comment ” but during later questioning, he made full admissions.
At arraignment Macartney pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of causing death by careless driving and it was only in the lead up to his impending trial the charges were put to him again and he confessed to killing the couple by dangerous driving.
Defence counsel Stephen Toal told the court Macartney was “offering our sincerest condolences to the family of Mr and Mrs Weir, in particular Katie.....we are acutely aware of the pain she’s suffering.”
Outlining that nothing in his plea was intended to “detract from the loss” of her parents, Mr Toal submitted that Macartney will carry his guilt “for the rest of his life and will always deeply regret the loss of life to the Weir family.”
The court heard he had a completely clear record, there were no issues with alcohol or drugs and there were references that he had “helped others throughout his young life.”
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Millar said he had received and read the victim impact statement from Katie and while he described it as “poignant and heartbreaking,” he added he would not open its details in such a public forum.
Jailing Macartney, who was also banned from driving for five years, Judge Millar said a custodial sentence “is both appropriate and necessary...to act as a deterrent” to everyone who drives.
Speaking outside the court following the sentencing, Katie lambasted the sentence as a “kick in the teeth.”
“I just don’t think it reflects the fact that he caused the death of two people and certainly doesn’t deter other drivers from driving at excessive speed,” said a weeping Katie, commenting that she wishes she had died in the crash too.
“I think I would rather have been in that car - it would just be easier if mum was alive and I was dead because it’s so hard.”
The university graduate called for legislation to be changed to allow judges to impose life sentences on killer drivers saying guidelines and maximum sentences in Northern Ireland were 'inadequate'.
“I think he should’ve at least received ten years," he said.
In a statement last night the PSNI urged drivers to slow down and take greater care on the roads.
"Katie (Weir) has been cruelly deprived of the chance to share her future with two of the most important people in her life," police said.
"She will never be able to lift the phone ‘to chat’ with her parents, or share the many momentous milestones ahead of her. This has all been taken from her."
