Dlava Mohamed (L) and Kiea McCann (R) died on July 31, 2023, when the car they were in, driven by Anthony McGinn, struck a tree.

Anthony McGinn, 61, has been jailed for seven years for the dangerous driving that led to the deaths of best friends Kiea McCann, 16, and Dlava Mohamed, 17, in Co Monaghan in July 2023.

McGinn, with an address at Drumloo, Newbliss, Co Monaghan, was also disqualified from driving for a period of 15 years.

In January, McGinn, who was charged in March 2024, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of the teenage best friends, and additionally pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to Avin Mohamed. 

At Monaghan Circuit Court on Wednesday, Judge John Aylmer put the headline sentence for McGinn at nine years, but reduced the sentence to seven years after considering mitigating and aggravating factors.

For the sentencing, Judge Aylmer considered the facts that McGinn had no alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the crash, that he was fully cooperative throughout the investigation, and entered an early guilty plea.

Additionally, the judge felt the risk of McGinn reoffending was low and noted that he had no previous convictions.

Aggravating factors, however, included that McGinn was driving nearly twice the speed limit and did not heed the requests from his teenage passengers to slow down.

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On July 31, 2023, McGinn was chauffeuring McCann and Mohamed, as well as Dlava's 18-year-old sister Avin Mohamed and their friend 18-year-old Oisin Clerkin, to their debs at the Westenra Arms Hotel in Monaghan Town.

The BMW he was driving hit a tree on the N54 road at Legnakelly near Clones in Co Monaghan, killing McCann and Mohamed and leaving Avin with life-altering injuries. Oisin suffered less serious injuries.

McGinn was in a coma for a number of months after the accident.

Garda Inspector Ann Marie Lardner said in court last week that forensic investigations had determined that the car McGinn was driving reached a speed of over 151km/h shortly before the crash and had been doing 121km/h at the point of impact with the base of a tree.

The speed limit on the road of the crash was 80km/h.

The court also heard last week that in his victim impact statement, Clerkin said: “I told him [McGinn] to slow down, he did not reply.

"He was driving fast, it scared me.”

Similarly, Dlava's sister Avin said: “Anthony started speeding. I remember I got angry and told him to stop, but then everything went black."

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"My child's life is gone"

Speaking outside the court on Wednesday, Kiea's mother Teresa said: "Seven years. That's the justice here."

Teresa described her daughter and Dlava as "two beautiful girls."

"This is what we got, seven years today," Teresa said.

"There is no justice for this. My child's life is gone and never coming back."

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"We need to slow down"

Ann-Marie Lardner of the Cavan-Monaghan Roads policing unit also spoke outside the court on Wednesday, issuing an appeal for drivers to slow down while noting that Garda Kevin Flatley was also killed last weekend due to excessive speeds.

"Kiea and Dlava were looking forward to celebrating their debs, on the night of the 31st of July, 2023," Lardner told reporters.

"They had their entire lives and bright futures in front of them. They were killed in a devastating road traffic collision and never came home."

Lardner said: "An Garda Siochana and all our road safety partners continuously repeat, repeat, and repeat: Speeding kills.

"Kiea and Dlava were killed because of excessive speed."

She continued: "As a society, Ireland needs to reset our collective attitude toward road safety.

"As a society, we need to slow down.

"As a society, we need to have a conversation with those who we know drive too fast, either in excess of the speed limit or too fast for the road conditions.

"The only people who can drive slower are drivers, but everybody can influence a driver. Slow down. Make our roads safer. Get home safe to your families every day."