The parents of Kiea McCann, one of two teenagers killed in a crash on the way to their debs ball in Monaghan in 2023, have said they are living a “nightmare” since their daughter’s death.
Kiea (17) died alongside her best friend, Dlava Mohamed (16). Dlava’s sister, Avin, was left with life-changing injuries after the crash.
Last week, Anthony McGinn (61) pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and serious injury. He was driving 151km/h in an 80km/h zone when his car struck a tree near Legnakelly on July 31st, 2023. He was jailed for seven years.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Prime Time on Tuesday, Frankie and Teresa McCann recalled the night of the crash.
Mr McCann described arriving at the scene, saying he moved from Kiea to Dlava trying to revive them.
“You were just trying, basically, to save one to get to the other,” he said. “It wasn’t that you had a choice to do it, it was something you had to do. And then you’d turn around and you’d see the mother lying with your own daughter.”
When they realised the girls could not be saved, Mr McCann gave them the last rites.
“You kind of hope, if there is something after life, they would know that you were with them. They’d know that they were loved, because my daughter knew she was loved.”
Mr McCann said he has struggled to move forward following his daughter’s death and has tried to take his own life.
“You remember the day she was born when you’re the first to hold her, then you’re the last to hold her,” he added.
Ms McCann said: “It’s a nightmare to live with … just lying there with them and knowing that you couldn’t save them.”
The McCanns said Mr McGinn, a family friend whom they had known for years, should have been given a longer sentence.
The court in Monaghan heard how he had ignored the “somewhat angry pleas” of two “frightened young passengers” – referring to Avin and another passenger, Oisín Clerkin, who sustained less serious injuries – to “desist” from speeding.
“It’s not a fair sentence. At the end of the day, he knew what he was at when he got into that car … Seven years is nothing,” Ms McCann said.
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