The heartbroken mother of a young man killed by a serial offender with almost 500 convictions has revealed her shock at discovering he had already been banned from driving until 2023.
Julie Patton lost her eldest son, Shane, when Eamonn Lynch smashed into him in Drumkeen, on July 12th, 2012.
Lynch, who had been drinking, collided and killed Shane while driving at 165kph in his Toyota Celica car just after midnight.
Father-of-three Lynch this week pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of Shane, who was just 18, and was jailed for 18 months when he appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court.
But it can now be revealed how Lynch had been banned from driving by a court in Northern Ireland until 2023.
When Lynch smashed into Shane, he had no driving license, no NCT and was not taxed or insured.
Last night Mrs Patton told Donegal Daily she only discovered Lynch’s horrific criminal past and that he was banned from driving when she Googled him days after Shane was killed.
She said “I just couldn’t believe what I was reading. I had to find out who he was so I Googled him. I was trying to make sense of it all.
“It was then that I discovered all the things that he had done and I also found out that he had been banned from driving until 2023. I just couldn’t believe it.
“I was just so angry. How could he be out on the road? How could he be driving when he was banned for so long.”
Mrs Patton said she is unaware if Judge Martin Nolan, the Judge in her son’s case, had been made aware that Lynch had been banned from driving.
“I sat through the case and I do not know if that was even mentioned. I never heard it mentioned so I’m not sure if the Judge even knew about it. I think it should have been mentioned,” she added.
Mrs Patton also said she was so angry with the current Legal Aid system in Ireland and how people can get such legal help.
“I understand that his barrister was only doing his job but I am so angry that he was given all this legal help and access to a top barrister when he had such a horrific record of crime.
“How can that be right? People might not understand that I cannot forgive him but I can’t.
“He should never have been on that road and traveling at that speed. If he had not been on the road then Shane would have been here today,” she said.
The late Shane Patton with his mum Julie.
