Families angry at 12-month sentence for driver who killed cyclist

Ordering 61-year-old Hing Tong ‘Steve’ Cheung, a father, grandfather and former chairman of the NI Chinese Chamber of Commerce, to spend half his sentence in prison and half on supervised licence, Downpatrick Crown Court Judge Neil Rafferty QC also banned him from driving for three years.

Cheung, from Hanover Hill in Bangor, had admitted causing the death of Gavin James Moore and causing grievous bodily injury to Gareth Boyle by driving dangerously on the Bangor Road in Ards on July 11, 2017.

“I have rarely dealt with a case that had visited such tragedy upon people who could not be less deserving of it,” said the clearly emotional judge.

Addressing a packed and tearful public gallery, Judge Rafferty told them he had to balance the seriousness of the offence with mitigation in favour of the defendant, including his guilty plea and impeccable good character.

“I apologise for not being able to give you what you deserve which is the restoration of Gavin and the restoration of health,” said the judge, adding: “I can only hope that you find some solace in what has happened today.”

But speaking outside the court, both Mr Boyle and Mr Moore’s father Jim lambasted the sentence.

Mr Moore said: “All I wish to say really is that I don’t think that justice has been done.

“There’s two lads who had no dad, the family have no son, no brother, brother-in-law, or uncle and other boys have no stepdad but he will be out running about in six months and Gavin isn’t here for us to see him.”

Mr Boyle also criticised the sentence but paid tribute to the people who stopped to help on the day, saying: “Unfortunately I do not believe the sentences imposed by the judge on someone who killed Gavin and caused serious injury to me and my friends is sufficient.

“I am concerned that the court has imposed only a one-year prison sentence and a three-year driving ban on someone whose dangerous driving caused such significant impact on my life and the life of so many more.

“In Northern Ireland particularly I believe that all road users need to be more aware of cyclists on the road and I hope the prison sentence, even the limited one given, will help make all road users more aware of the dangers they face to cyclists and others by a lack of concentration.

“I want to acknowledge the people who stopped at the scene of the accident effectively saved my life by their actions.”

Mr Moore, a 40-year-old father of two and his friend Mr Boyle were out with a group of four cyclists from North Down Cycling Club on July 11, 2017 when they were in a collision with a Hyundai 4x4 at around 1.50pm.

Mr Moore died in hospital as a result of his injuries while Mr Boyle was left in a critical condition having sustained what were described at the time as serious but non-life threatening injuries.

The jury heard the four friends were on the return leg of their route around the Ards Peninsula when the accident occurred.

In a 2x2 formation, the group were on the inside lane of the Bangor blind dual carriageway near Conlig when the impact happened as a result of Cheung’s “inexplicable failure to avoid a collision”.

Mr Moore was rushed to the RVH but despite medics’ best efforts, he died that afternoon.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was a “severe neck injury”, while Mr Boyle suffered a “burst fracture” to his second lumbar vertebrae in addition to injuries to his ribs and right elbow that required a plate Roche to be surgically fitted.

Forensic experts examined the scene and were able to ascertain that Cheung would have been able to see approximately 220 metres ahead on the carriageway and that at the point of impact, his car was travelling between 50-60 mph.

Mr Moore, who was at the back of the group, was carried along the carriageway for about 80 metres after he was struck while tyre marks indicated that Cheung had been braking hard for just over 50 metres of that.

While a driver behind Cheung’s vehicle told police he saw the cyclists ahead, the defendant told police when he was questioned that he had no memory of seeing the group before he struck them, suggesting that he “must have fallen asleep” before hearing a thud in his car and braking heavily.

The jury heard there was no evidence of alcohol having been consumed and no evidence that his mobile phone was being used at the time of the tragic accident.

Defence counsel Samuel Magee told the court today that “from each and every angle the circumstances of this case are nothing short of a tragedy”, and that it was clear from the various reports and “raft of testimonials” that Cheung “has expressed the most deep and genuine remorse for what happened”.

“He feels nothing other than singularly responsible and utterly devastated by what occurred,” said Mr Magee, adding that his client knows “that no amount of apology, no matter how heartfelt, will undo the events of that day”.

Turning to aspects of the law, the barrister submitted that “at its height, this was a tragic but momentary lapse in concentration” which given the death and serious injury caused, falls into the “intermediate category” of such cases.

With Cheung repeatedly wiping away tears, Mr Magee told the judge: “Like anyone in this court, he never envisaged standing in the dock of a Crown Court, looking down the barrels of an immediate custodial sentence ... he is utterly devastated” at the consequences he had caused.

The lawyer revealed that “to his credit, he doesn’t instruct me to bleat on his behalf because he is conscious that those at the back of the court are grieving” so Cheung had no wish to “compound their pain”.

He submitted that while it was a “brave submission,” there was an alternative sentence open to the court, apart from immediate custody, “that isn’t a soft option”.

“This is a man who will live with the punitive aspect of what he did for the rest of his days,” said Mr Magee.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Rafferty said he had been “intensely moved” by the victim impact statements he had read, including one from Mr Moore’s partner Joanne Ryan who herself had sadly passed away.

In two others, recorded from friends of the two victims who were cycling alongside them, Judge Rafferty said they outlined how they suffered feelings of guilt that “if they hadn’t stopped for a cup of coffee” or stopped to fix a puncture “things could been different”.

Addressing them specifically in the packed courtroom, the judge said while their feelings were “an element of survivor guilt, I tell you from the bench that you should not” feel guilty at all.

In mitigation, the judge said that Cheung was effectively a “pillar in the Chinese community” with a completely clear record who had pleaded guilty.

He said he had considered suspending the sentence and an enhanced combination order that would have required in probation and community service but decided that given the “need for deterrence” and the seriousness of the offence, that Cheung’s sentence had to be immediate custody.

As he was led to the cells, the defendant’s wife and family wept.