Ballycastle man who killed his nephew in crashed stolen van while drunk is jailed

Judge Alistair Devlin said he had read the “heartfelt and frankly very gracious” victim impact statement from Sean McAlonan’s grieving mother where she said she did not wish to see her brother Paul McAlonan jailed.

But despite that, given the aggravating features, “a custodial sentence is inevitable”.

Ordering 39-year-old McAlonan to serve half his sentence in jail and half under supervised licence conditions, the Antrim Crown Court judge said there had to be a prison sentence “to mark society’s abhorrence and rejection” of drink-driving and also to “deter those who may in the future … drive with excess alcohol, putting the lives of other road users and themselves at significant risk”.

In addition to the prison sentence McAlonan, a father of three from Hillside Road in Ballycastle, was also banned from driving for two years.

Also sentenced was 30-year-old Kieran Kane, from the Cushendall Road, Ballypatrick, Ballycastle, who was given a three-year probation order after he admitted allowing himself to be carried in the stolen Citroen Berlingo van.

The court heard that on November 25 2018 the uncle and nephew had been at a wedding but ended up at Hunters Bar in Ballyvoy.

Despite drinking alcohol for the majority of the day McAlonan found the unlocked Citroen van in the pub car park and with the key left in the glove box, decided to drive home at 6am.

Kane, who had not been with the McAlonans but apparently knew them and was friends with Sean, jumped into the back of the van to get a lift.

According to an agreed basis of plea, McAlonan was not speeding or driving erratically but six miles outside the town centre, the stolen van left the road and crashed into a mature tree.

Kane was thrown forward and out through the passenger window while Paul McAlonan sustained fractures to his left leg and ribs.

Sean McAlonan sustained fatal injuries and the van caught fire a short time after the impact.

A blood sample taken later revealed Paul McAlonan to be one-and-a-half times the legal drink-drive limit.