Donegal man appears in court charged with causing death of brother

March 31, 2018

A Donegal man has been charged with causing the death of his brother by dangerous driving four years ago.

Francis McCafferty of Belault in Pettigo, appeared at Omagh Magistrates’ Court this morning.

The BBC reports the 44 year old is accused of killing Pat John McCafferty on the Tullychurry Road near Belleek in County Fermanagh on 5 January 2014.

Mr McCafferty was arrested in Strabane in County Tyrone on Wednesday.

In the hours after the crash in 2014, gardaí located a Ford Focus believed to be involved in the crash, close to Mr McCafferty’s Pettigo home.

The court heard that the car was found to be damaged.

He voluntarily presented himself to gardaí he next day.

He is said to have admitted to being the driver of the vehicle and said it was an accident.

Mr Cafferty was not charged by the gardaí.

The court was told that when that account was put to him during a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) interview, he said: “Donegal guards are corrupt.”

He also denied he was driving the car involved in the crash.

Mr McCafferty’s solicitor told the court the statement taken by An Garda Síochana “lacked key details”.

In court on Saturday, the judge said he was satisfied that there was enough evidence to connect Mr McCafferty with the alleged offence.

Objecting the bail, the PSNI said it feared Mr McCafferty might abscond.

The judge said he would grant bail if a number of conditions were met, and required Mr McCafferty to surrender the title deeds to his County Donegal farm.

The case will be heard again on 9 April.


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