A FIREFIGHTER who had up to 16 drinks before he knocked down a young man, leaving him fatally injured by the side of a road has been jailed for five and a half years.

Derek Keane (40) was sentenced today over the death of Callum Grimes (28), who was found unconscious with serious head injuries in a layby in north county Dublin in late 2016. He died in hospital seven months later.

Keane, of The Cottage, Loughshinny, Skerries, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Grimes at Loughshinny on December 27 that year.

He also admitted failing to offer assistance.

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Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Keane had drunk between 12 and 15 pints of Guinness and a gin and tonic before taking his van home from the pub on the night. Callum had been walking home alone in the early hours after Christmas celebrations in a pub with friends but there was evidence he was alert to traffic and not impaired by alcohol.

Keane had no memory of the collision, or of driving home, but went to the gardai after he woke up, saw the damage to his van and heard there had been an incident on the road.

Sentencing him, Judge Martin Nolan said the amount Keane drank had rendered him “insensible” and incapable of having control of his vehicle.

Callum’s father Mark Grimes wept as he told the court in a victim impact statement how their family would never be the same after the loss of their “blue eyed boy.” Callum’s mother Catherine was unable to come to court because she was undergoing cancer treatment.

The court heard Keane, a father-of-three and electrician who volunteered part time as a firefighter, offered a “deep apology for his actions” and would live with the shame for the rest of his life.

After he was jailed, Callum’s parents said in a statement they bellieved their son would be alive today, if he had received urgent medical attention.

Detective Sergeant Sean Pender told Garnet Orange SC, prosecuting, a bread delivery man, Paul Fitzpatrick was on a round when something caught his eye at 8.10am.
His initial impression was that it was somebody asleep on the grass verge and as he approached, he noticed signs of injury. Callum was still breathing at that stage, but his breath was laboured. Mr Fitzpatrick immediately set about calling the emergency services and gardai.
A nurse, Joan Keogh was passing and she pulled in to render assistance.

They both made observations about “the placement of Mr Grimes.” The court heard he was lying on his back with his runners placed neatly on the ground beside him, although there was no suggestion the accused had any role in moving Callum after the accident.

Callum, unconscious, was brought to Beamont Hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, a local woman reported hearing a loud bang between 1.30am and 2.20am, Jessica Tobin, a friend of Callum’s said she had meen messaging him and he had described to her that he had left Skerries, where he was at a pub, and walking in the direction of Rush.

This conversation ended at 1.55am.

Other witnesses on the road had seen Callum walking in dark clothes with his hood up, but he appeared alert to traffic and stepping out of the way.

There was a “significant number” of medical interventions for Callum’s serious head injury but his condition deteriorated and he never regained consciousness. On July 13, the family was told he had “passed beyond hope” and the decision was made to turn off his life support.

He died the following day and his organs were harvested for donation.

Keane presented himself at Balbriggan Garda Station at 12.55pm on December 27 and allowed them to seize his van. He told gardai he had been at his uncle’s pub in Skerries for 12 hours. He did not remember leaving, but woke up at home and saw his Volkswagen Transporter parked outside.

The windscreen and front left headlight were damaged and word was circulating that something had happened on the road.

He said he put “two and two together.”

Keane only had one prior conviction – for speeding – and he came from a well-respected family, his barrister Dominic McGinn SC said. He had written a letter of apology to the Grimes family.

Mark Grimes told the court his wife Catherine was diagnosed wiith cancer while Callum was in hospital and she started her treatment four days after he was buried.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Grimes said Callum had been a “shy but happy child,” was a gifted artist and amateur chef who had begun rapping and performing on stage in local pubs.

He loved to travel with his girlfriend Ash.

Callum had gone out and spent his last few hours having fun with a large group of friends the following night.

He then read excerpts from a diary he had kept to show his son “when he recovered.” In it, he detailed the treatments recieved. One entry states: “I have put ‘do not resuscitate on your file’… please forgive me.”

Callum was their “blue eyed boy,” he said, “a shy boy who loved life.”

“His mother and I watched as a strong, happy boy faded to a skeletal figure in front of our eyes,” he said.

While his son was in hospital, he “prayed at first for a miracle to make Cal better,” then prayed to ease his suffering, then to swap places with him before praying for God to take him.

“I have not prayed since,” he said.

Callum’s family and girlfriend would never be the same again, he continued.

“We struggle in the name of all that’s decent, Mr Keane, to understand how you killed our son and left him on the side of the road… I believe that these hours could have been crucial, and wonder if you had done the decent thing, and got help immediately, would Callum still be here with us,” he said.

The accused had initially sought a trial before pleading guilty and Mr Grimes said this “final act of self preservation ad cowardice… put us through two years of hell.”

“I would like some day to find the grace to forgive but this day is not it,” he said.

Nobody could say how the collision happened, Mr McGinn said. The accused did not know but accepted that he must have done it.
Keane was not a big drinker because he was frequently on call with the fire service but to his “eternal shame” he drank to excess and got behind the wheel on the night.

He was “heartbroken” that his actions had deprived a loving family of their son.

Judge Nolan said it was a “lamentable and tragic case” and the dangerous driving was at the “highest level” because of the amount Keane had to drink.

“I thought this type of behaviour was a thing of the past, long past,” he said. “Mr Keane behaved very badly and he must be punished.”

Afterwards, Callum’s parents issued a statement through their solicitor Dermot McNamara.

“His parents Mark and Catherine believe that the hours he was left alone at the roadside were critical to his potential recovery, and that he would be alive today if the driver had either stopped or returned to the scene of the accident,” the statement read.

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