Driver ‘going too fast’ when he killed OAP in road crash

Driver ‘going too fast’ when he killed OAP in road crash

19 June 2019

AN inexperienced driver knocked down and killed a pensioner in Newcastle because he was going too fast, a judge has said. 

Matthew McKee (20) was given a ten-month suspended jail sentence and banned from driving for 18 months at Downpatrick Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Geoffrey Miller told McKee it was clear that by driving at 38-42mph through the town centre, he was “driving too quickly for the prevailing conditions”.

He also told McKee that had he been adhering to the speed limit of 30mph, “then the collision would not have occurred”.

McKee, from Meadowlands Avenue, Kilkeel, admitted causing the death of Mr Geoff Cartwright, a retired teacher, by driving carelessly on South Promenade on August 24, 2017. 

Prosecuting lawyer Richard Weir QC outlined how 78 year-old Mr Cartwright, a widow and father-of-six, had been in Mackins Bar with his brother, Reginald, when the pair left at around 10.30pm. Moments later, he was struck by McKee’s Ford Focus car. 

Members of the local RNLI crew had been in the bar and along with an off duty nurse, they tended to the stricken Mr Cartwright who was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital. The pensioner later died from his injuries. 

Mr Weir said McKee, who had passed his driving test only two months earlier, “was visibly distressed” at the scene. A breath test proved negative.

Mr Weir revealed that from the forensic report, it was estimated McKee had been travelling between 38-42 mph in the lead-up to the accident, the speed limit in the area being 30mph. 

The senior lawyer said while the report also highlighted that a parked van “obscured the driver’s view of matters....that doesn’t exempt the accused”.

He continued: “Speed is at the heart of the collision here,” declared Mr Weir, adding that “one had to factor in also that this was a young and inexperienced driver.”

Apart from the speed, he told the court there were no other aggravating factors in the case such as McKee being distracted, but that in mitigation was McKee’s clear record and genuine remorse. 

With Mr Cartwright’s friends and relatives filling one half of the public gallery, Mr Weir said “one can hardly fail but be moved” by the contents of the statements they had made regarding the death of their loved one. 

Defence lawyer Patrick Lyttle QC said a custodial sentence was not required given McKee’s guilty plea, his clear record, the lack of aggravating factors, his insight into the consequences for the Cartwright family and his “genuine and heartfelt remorse for causing them such pain”.

Describing digger driver McKee as a “decent, hard working young man” from a respectable family, he submitted that but for this tragedy, he would not find himself in the dock. 

“There but for the grace of God go all of us in cases of this nature,” argued Mr Lyttle who conceded that had McKee not been speeding “then a collision would not have occurred”.

Sentencing McKee, Judge Miller said he had received statements from some of Mr Cartwright’s children.

“The clear picture that emerges is of the love and affection in which he was held, described as the glue that kept the family together and as the person in whom each person placed their love and confidence in,” he remarked.

“There can be no doubt that the shock and sudden nature of his death has only added to the sense of grief and one has a sense that was exacerbated because it deprived those closest to him of the opportunity to say their goodbyes.” 

Judge Miller said it was clear that McKee did not see Mr Cartwright until it was too late and “then stood on the brakes”, adding there “can be no doubt that his regret for his actions and the consequential death of Mr Cartwright is genuine and heartfelt”.

He told McKee: “This was a serious and tragic incident caused by a combination of factors, including excessive speed and your driving inexperience.”

He said while the custody threshold had been passed an immediate sentence of imprisonment was not appropriate. 

Judge Miller said Mr Cartwright’s death should serve as a warning to everyone who drives, “myself included...that a car can be an instrument of death and destruction if one allows it and the consequences for drivers, passengers and other road users, as in this case, can be devastating”.