Mother "sick" driver may be free in weeks

Published 28 May 2009 09:00

A Fermanagh mother who lost her son in a fatal car accident last year has spoken of her anguish after it emerged the driver could walk free from prison in just six weeks.

17-year-old Kevin McChesnie was killed when his friend Peter Smith crashed into a tree in Newtownbutler in August 2008. Last week, Smith, 18, pleaded 'guilty' at Dungannon Crown Court to causing Kevin"s death by driving without due care and attention while unfit through drink or drugs and without insurance.

Smith was sentenced to nine months" imprisonment. He will spend a 12 months on probation on the completion of his sentence.

Because he is entitled to 50 per cent remission and due to time spent on remand, his time inside has been cut. For Kevin"s grieving mother, June, the news has created even more heartache.

June said she and her close knit family are horrified by Smith"s shockingly short sentence. 'Peter killed my little baby, my lovely and beautiful son and for that he gets just a few weeks in prison. If he had to be handed a nine month sentence that meant he"d spend nine months in prison then I would have accepted that. To think he will be a free man so soon makes me physically sick. There is something badly wrong with the justice system in this country and I feel so hurt and so let down.'

'Not a second goes by when I don"t think of Kevin and all the special moments that I"m going to miss sharing with him. I"ll always wonder who he might have married and how many grandchildren he might have gave me. That will never happen now. I"m angry at Peter and I"m angry at the system. It"s a disgrace that I can"t get justice for my son, I am powerless.'

She added: 'When Kevin died, part of me went with him. It"s never coming back and nothing can ever replace that bit of me that"s no longer there. I hope Peter is sorry for what he did and that he"ll come out of all this a better fella but I will never forgive him for causing my son"s death and showing no remorse when he did.'

June asks: 'What kind of person shows no remorse for taking another life? My son is dead because Peter was drink-driving.'

Smith"s Peugeot 206 left the road and smashed into a tree, Kevin died later in hospital. It was a scene of tragedy that June and her husband Lonan will never forget.

'It was about twenty past one in the morning that we got the call in the house that there had been an accident. We went down to where it happened and found the paramedics had Kevin on a stretcher.' explained Lonan, Kevin"s step-father.

'I knew straight away that my little boy was gone.' said June. 'His lung was punctured and he was in a bad way. I was in pure shock. I kept asking myself if this was really happening. We walked about the hospital that night as if it was a bad dream. We kept telling each other it was going to be alright.'

'Even when the doctors told us that there was nothing more that they could do and they wanted to turn the machine off, I still thought that maybe, just maybe, Kevin would be fine. But he wasn"t. I couldn"t believe he was dead. I was just so numb.'

Nine months after her son"s death, June remains devastated. She doesn"t think she"ll ever be able to come to terms with it and constantly replays the last moments she shared with Kevin in her mind.

'I last spoke to him earlier that evening. He was playing and messing about with the two wee ones, Oran and Kortni, lifting them up and throwing them up in the air and swinging them about. They were having fun, they were full of laughter, full of smiles. We were talking away. I remember feeling so proud of him.'

Kevin, a trainee mechanic, insisted on looking to the future and was determined to save the money he made from his work.

'I used to tell him to save up for a wee loan and start a business but he always said he didn"t want to get into debt,' said June. 'He wanted to save his own money and do it his way. He was such a good boy, a bright boy, with a big future ahead of him. He wasn"t lying about doing nothing; he wanted to do something with his life.'

But Kevin"s life was caught short and his family are heartbroken that they"ll never see him do all the things he should be doing. His grieving mother says she"ll fight for what"s right.

'All we have are the memories. Our son is gone and his killer might be free in weeks. I am going to shout loud and I am not going to give up, I will do all that I can to fight for my son and do what"s right. I will not rest until something is done to change the system so I can get justice for my Kevin.'

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This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 28 May 09

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