A Co. Armagh woman who knocked down and killed a cyclist because she was sending multiple text messages and looking at an overtaking car instead of looking at the road ahead was handed a two-year sentence today (Friday).
Jailing Nicole McGeown at Craigavon Crown Court, ordering that she serve half her sentence in jail and half on licence, Judge Patrick McGurgen outlined that in the 40 seconds before she struck the bicycle being ridden by Ronald Walker, the 31-year-old had typed out and sent two WhatsApp messages.
Highlighting that McGeown “would have to have typed these,” the judge added that in the moments before the fatal impact, the self-confessed driver responsible for the fatality was paying more attention to a car that had overtaken her rather than the road in front of her.
He told the court that while the prosecution submitted “this was a prolonged episode of bad driving…which resulted in the tragic loss of life,” it was his view that “this was more than the use of a mobile phone.”
“You were texting while driving, you veered into the verge twice, and your manner of driving and using the phone continued for a period of time,” said the judge, “this was not a momentary lapse.”
Judge McGurgen told McGeown, despite the impact on her two young children, “this offence is so serious” and there was an overriding need to deter others that “it can only be met by an immediate custodial sentence.”
At an earlier hearing, McGeown, from River Glade Manor in Lurgan, admitted causing the death of Mr Walker by driving dangerously on the Lisburn Road in Moira on March 26, 2020.
She had initially been charged with causing death by careless driving, but having reviewed the evidence, the PPS opted to increase the seriousness of the charge.
Rehearsing the facts of the case during his sentencing remarks today, Judge McGurgen told the court how McGeown had been driving her Seat Leon along the A3 towards Moira when the fatal impact occurred shortly before 6pm.
The country was experiencing its first COVID lockdown, so traffic was “exceptionally light,” the road was in good condition, and the weather was clear. But as McGeown drove along, she failed to see Mr Walker on his bike and crashed into the back of him, sending him off the road and his bicycle over the hedge.
Tragically, and despite the best efforts of police and paramedics who rushed to the scene, the 57-year-old father-of-two was pronounced dead at the scene.
Turning to events leading up to the tragedy and the police investigation into Mr Walker’s “avoidable” death, the judge said police spoke to another driver who was behind McGeown.
That witness told police he noticed the Seat Leon veer over to the left-hand side on two occasions, to such an extent that it “kicked up dust” from the verge and also that despite being behind the Seat, he was able to see the cyclist ahead.
He told police he overtook McGeown and the cyclist, but as he was ahead of them, “a flash of movement” in his mirror caught his attention. He turned back and found McGeown sitting in the driver’s seat of her car, on the phone to the emergency services.
“He asked the defendant if she had been texting, but she denied it,” the judge told the court.
Judge McGurgen outlined how McGeown denied to police that she had been using her phone and “could not explain why” she had failed to see the cyclist, further claiming that she had used the phone once when she was sitting stationary at a junction.
Through their investigations, however, the police obtained CCTV footage which disproved that claim, and when her seized phone was examined, officers established that as she drove in the five minutes before the fatal impact, McGeown had: Received and read two text messages; accessed Facebook; and typed out and sent two text messages.
A message she received at 17.46 was not read, “and it is believed that the accident occurred around this time.”
During initial police interviews, McGeown denied she had been using her phone immediately prior to the accident and was freed pending further enquiries.
Those enquiries related to her phone and a forensic engineer conducting a reconstruction, which established that McGeown would have had a 400-metre view ahead and that a cyclist would have been discernible from 180 metres.
When McGeown was questioned again a year later and the “overwhelming” phone evidence put to her, she still maintained her denials of using the mobile, claiming that she was “distracted” by the car that had overtaken her.
McGeown maintained those denials until she eventually admitted her guilt last year, and Judge McGurgen said while that admission was a mitigating factor, as were her clear record and remorse, she had caused a high degree of harm to Mr Walker’s family.
The judge told the court while he would not “trespass or compound” the grief and hurt felt by Mr Walker’s family, he said he had read the “heartfelt and powerful” Victim Impact Statement written by his sister, which detailed how loved and missed her brother is.
“He didn’t get to see his daughter’s graduation, didn’t get to walk her down the aisle, and won’t get to do this with his other daughter. He won’t get to hold his grandchildren,” said Judge McGurgen, who, quoting from often repeated guideline cases, stressed that sadly, nothing either this court nor the defendant can do “will turn the clock back.”
In addition to the two-year sentence, the judge also imposed a four-year driving ban.
