A drunk driver who ran over a pedestrian and drove on, leaving him to die on a country lane, has been ordered to complete 200 hours Community Service.
Sentencing 43-year-old John McBurney, Judge Gordon Kerr QC said he was sentencing on the basis that McBurney had no “criminal culpability” in relation to the death of David James Shields but rather that he was not fit to be behind the wheel and despite knowing he had struck a human being with his Hyundai jeep, he left the scene.
However, Judge Kerr added that even if McBurney had stopped and alerted the authorities, the 52-year-old was so severely injured, “it would not have made any difference to the outcome.”
McBurney, from Green Park Avenue in Markethill, had originally been charged with causing death by careless driving while unfit but the PPS accepted his guilty pleas to driving while unfit through drink or drugs and that after an injurious accident, he failed to stop, remain and report it, on a date unknown between June 11-14, 2016.
Newry Crown Court heard how Mr Shields had left a local bar to walk home at about 10pm on June 13 but was not found until 7am the following morning at Shillinghill Road in Markethill.
It was described as a single lane, unlit country road, 2.3 metres wide and bordered by grass verges and hedges on either side, adding that Mr Shields would regularly have walked home along that road.
The police launched an extensive investigation when his body was found and a month later police officers spoke to McBurney who admitted drinking “four, five, six” pints in the same bar as Mr Shields on the night he was killed and that he drove along the Shillinghill Road.
His Hyundai jeep was seized and when it was forensically examined, Mr Shields’ DNA was recovered from the towing cleat “on the underside of the vehicle."
McBurney was arrested and twice interviewed but refused to answer police questions and the court heard that he has two previous convictions for drink driving in the late 90’s.
The judge said there was evidence that Mr Shields “was lying on the road at the time of the impact that caused his death.”
He added that while there was no criminal culpability in the death, nevertheless “this was a bad case of its type” given that McBurney “deliberately brought his car” to the pub, knowing he was going to be drinking alcohol and driving home “clearly realising the low risk of detection on the minor road home.”
“It seems to me appropriate that this defendant should contribute to the community in some way, not that it can ever, in anyway, make up for or relief the loss that the family have suffered,” concluded Judge Kerr.
In addition to the 200 hours CSO, McBurney was banned from driving for three years.