A young driver who knocked down and killed a 9-year-old boy in Co Donegal after reaching speeds of up to 111kph has been jailed for five years and banned from driving for 20 years.
Sergee Kelly struck little Ronan Wilson with such force that he propelled him 58 metres down the road from the point of impact in the seaside town of Bundoran on September 23rd, 2023.
Kelly fled the scene of the tragedy in his silver Skoda Octavia car but the entire incident at Atlantic Way had been captured on CCTV.
The 24-year-old accused then went on a drugs and booze binge and visited local amusement arcades before being arrested the following day.
Passing sentence Judge John Aylmer said the “horrific” speed being undertaken by Kelly left him with no chance of being able to avoid a child stepping out onto the road.
He added that if the accused had been traveling within the speed limit, he may have had more time to react and young Ronan could have escaped without significant injury.
He placed the case at the upper end of the scale for such offences and said there were a number of aggravating factors in the case including the speed, leaving the scene and then going on a binge of drink and drugs and that he had also previously been charged with careless driving after being found to be driving at 160kph.
The horrifying details of the tragic night were given at Donegal Circuit Court sitting at Letterkenny Courthouse earlier this week.
Judge John Aylmer adjourned the case until today to consider various submissions before passing final sentence on Kelly.
Kelly was charged with four offences under the Road Traffic Act and tendered signed pleas to all including dangerous driving causing death.
The plea also included a charge of having been the driver of a vehicle, which was involved in the occurrence of injury to Ronan Wilson, did fail to offer said person assistance.
Kelly, of Upper Mullaghmore, Co Sligo has forwarded signed pleas to charges of failing to stop at the scene and failing to remain at the scene of the incident.
A large number of grieving members of the young boy’s family were in court for the sentencing including his mother Emma and dad Dean after travelling to Donegal from their home in Kildress in Co Tyrone.
Members of the family held a framed picture of the football-mad youngster while his mother clung to a cuddly toy.
Detective Garda Shane Maye previously outlined the case to the court.
He told how a couple, Maria Roberts and Michael McKinney, had been walking along Atlantic Way when they noticed a car coming at speed from behind them.
Ms Roberts remarked how she thought the car was going way too fast as it passed and that it had tinted windows.
The couple then heard a screech and suddenly noticed a number of young boys running towards them, with one of the boys saying that his brother had been hit.
Ms Roberts, who was trained in first aid, tried to find a pulse on the little boy but could not.
Mr McKinney took off his coat and put it around the young boy while other bystanders who had gathered were trying to do CPR on the young boy.
Mr Jamie Gallagher, who was in his mobile home nearby, heard a loud bang and then heard people screaming for help.
CCTV footage taken shortly after the incident showed Sergee Kelly pulling his car into a nearby caravan parking, punching in the keycode to raise the barrier and then appeared to be rolling a cigarette.
Damage was evident to the front of his car, the court was told.
A forensic examination of the scene carried out by forensic collision investigator Sergeant Hugh McCann estimated the car was traveling between 105kph and 111kph while post impact it was traveling at 91kph when the brakes were applied but the car did not stop.
The report also suggested that young Ronan Wilson was 30 metres from the car when he stepped onto the road and was struck one second later but that if the car had been traveling within the 50kph zone this would have been reduced to at least two seconds to allow the driver to react to the presence of the pedestrian.
The court was told that little Ronan, along with his older brother Callum and another young boy, had been walking to a nearby shop to get some fruit drinks.
Barrister for the Prosecution, Ms Fiona Crawford, BL said another report on Kelly’s vehicle was carried out by Garda PSV Inspector Damian Mulkearns.
It showed that the windscreen and front side windows of the Skoda were tinted to below the 65% legal threshold which would have restricted the driver’s view to restricted light transparency levels.
The driver’s seat was also declined to such an extent that his vision would have been greatly reduced and that he was barely able to hold the steering wheel.
A phone log taken from Kelly’s Samsung Galaxy phone at the time of the impact showed that he was not on his phone when the tragedy happened.
Kelly was arrested the day after the incident and brought to Ballyshannon Garda Station for questioning.
A blood sample was taken 17 hours after the collision which showed a positive reading for cocaine.
When interviewed, Kelly admitted colliding with the child and leaving the scene but claimed he was not driving fast and suggested he was driving at 50kph “max.”
Detective Maye also told the court that CCTV footage showed that after the tragedy, Kelly walked back into Bundoran to meet friends, visited a number of pubs, went to an amusement arcade and then later took a taxi home.
He also admitted taking cocaine and also smoking cannabis when he got home.
A post mortem carried out by State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, showed Ronan had died as a result of a massive brain trauma.
Heartbreaking victim impact statements read out in court on behalf of a number of family members including Ronan’s parents, his auntie Shannon and grandmother Imelda McCauley.
All heart-wrenching and emotional statements told of a little boy who was loved by everyone he met and who loved football and cars.
Ronan’s heartbroken mum Emma told how her family’s life was idyllic until that moment and that everything changed irrevocably.
She told of rushing to her son and just lying down beside him and holding his hand on the road after he had been struck.
Now, instead of buying gifts for Ronan on his birthday and at Christmas, they buy gifts for his grave instead.
Little Ronan’s beloved aunt Shannon told how “Roro’ would give you his last slice of pizza even if he was still hungry such was his kindness.
She said her heart breaks more and more when she thinks of her beloved nephew knowing that he is six feet under and how his last words to her were about a trip they had both planned away together.
She added that “Ronan should be with us” adding that they need justice and that she will never see him have a girlfriend or pass his driving test
The tragic young boy’s grandmother Imelda McCauley said her life was “shattered beyond belief” after Ronan’s death.
She recalled how Ronan had the heartiest of laughs and would always share his money with his cousin Willow when the family came to Ballycastle.
She described what the entire family are going through as a nightmare adding, “I ask what justice can there be for the life of our beautiful wee grandson?”
The accused man took to the witness stand where he apologised to Ronan’s family.
He added that he never “wanted any of this to happen” adding that he expected he was going to get as he knew it would not bring back Ronan.
He said he now has no real life of any kind and had an awful life but obviously this was not as awful as the life of the “wee boy’s” family.
He said would most likely have to move away and that he was taking medication and anti-depressants and could not sleep.
The court was told that Kelly was adopted from Belarus by his family and that he had a diagnosis of ADHD from an early age.
He had two previous convictions, having been given a four year jail sentence in 2019 for a serious assault on a man in Bundoran in 2017 with the last two years of the sentence suspended.
In February, 2022, he was fined €2,000 after being caught speeding at 160kph on April 16th, 2021.
Barrister for Kelly. Mr Colm Smyth, SC, said this was a horrendous accident which had taken the life of such a young boy who had brought so much joy to his parents and family.
He added that it was always difficult for barristers to try to defend such fatal accidents but said all he could say was that his client had come forward and affirmed his plea at the first opportunity.
He had acknowledged his remorse by getting into the witness box and owned up to what he called this “massive error of judgement and criminal behaviour” saying he will have to carry this with him for the rest of his days.
He said he has his own loving family but that they too are heartbroken by the loss of this young child adding that Kelly’s family had done the best they could for him.
He said Kelly has already been shunned by his own community and that it is likely he will have to leave this community.
Passing sentence, Judge Aylmer placed the starting point for sentencing at eight years in prison, considering the matter “very much at the upper end of such offending” and a case that had a “very high degree of culpability”.
The charges of failing to offer assistance and failing to stop, Judge Aylmer said, had the same level of culpability, removing the potential for lifesaving if it were there.
Kelly came before the court on a signed plea, entitling him to a reduction of his sentence by one third. Judge Aylmer said he accepted that Kelly was now remorseful and he had “no doubt” that the accused would feel remorseful for the rest of his life.
Kelly was previously sentenced to prison in 2019 for stabbing a youth in the face while he was fined €2,000 at Sligo District Court in 2021 for an offence of careless driving after being caught driving at 160km/h.
Kelly, who was supported in court by his mother and father, had previously told the court that he was born in Belarus and was adopted by a family in Sligo at the age of three. He was diagnosed with ADHD and has been involved with CAHMS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) from a young age.
Judge Aylmer said he already took into account the history of ADHD when sentencing Kelly for the stabbing incident.
“You should have learned your lesson on the previous occasion,” Judge Aylmer told Kelly. “You didn’t. Your history of ADHD provides not zero mitigation, but nothing substantial.”
The Judge added it was “disturbing” to read a report from a psychiatrist which noted that Kelly made out that he didn’t realise that he had struck someone; instead suggesting that he felt he had hit the wing mirror of the car.
“That is indicative of a failure to acknowledge your responsibility, that was entirely contrary to a plea of guilty,” Judge Aylmer told Kelly, who stood emotionless in the dick as his fate was handed down.
“It was an extremely callous thing, knowing that you hit someone – and I take it from your pleas that you knew that you hit someone – thereby removing the possibility that the unfortunate victim might still be alive and saved by medical attention.”
He reduced the sentences for dangerous driving causing death, failing to stop and failing to offer assistance to five years in prison with the sentences to run concurrently. A charge of failing to keep the vehicle at the scene was marked as taken into consideration.
Kelly, wearing a navy suit and striped tie, was led away to begin his sentence by prison officers.
Members of Ronan’s family emerged later to thank the Gardai and their legal team.
The clung to a teddy bear made from a hoodie once loved and cherished by young Ronan while his mother and father proudly wore necklaces with his face pictured on them.
However, family spokesperson and Ronan’s uncle Stephen McAuley said the family were “devastated” by the sentence given.
“No sentence can ever bring Ronan back. but five years for the life of our boy is truly pathetic.
“Sergee Kelly mowed down our wee boy and with that he drove a knife through our hearts. He then fled the scene, a remorseless coward. He then parties the night away while our child lay dying in the street. In doing this, he turned the knife and our family has been in agony ever since.
“The sentence handed out today doesn’t ease our pain in any way and we believe this sends the wrong message to other young people who drive vehicles in a reckless way. It is a blight suffered by communities up and down the country and particularly in Donegal.
“Our family need time to come to terms with the loss of Ronan. He was a force of nature, we will miss him beyond measure and he leaves a void which can never be filled.”