Police chase sees teen in court

Saturday 18 January 2020

A teenager has been given a lengthy community service order and disqualified from driving for four years, after a high speed police chase led him to turn the wrong way down a one way road and crash into a wall.

Guernsey Police officers first became aware of 18-year-old Kieran Mcentee just before 21:30 on 24 October, when they heard his Honda Civic revving loudly and speeding along Fountain Street.

The officers, who were in a marked police car, decided to turn around and follow him, with emergency blue lights on. Both cars headed up towards Trinity Square and, by looking at their own speedo, the officers noted the defendant was driving at about 50mph in the 25mph zone.

Mcentee refused to stop, so the police car pulled closer to him and turned on the sirens.

He still kept going though, overtaking cars along La Charotterie at around 60mph to get away from the police vehicle. Officers called for a backup unit to help.

Another vehicle with emergency lights and sirens began chasing the defendant, who continued driving on the wrong side of the road to overtake other drivers who had pulled aside to let the police pass.

As he reached the Ville au Roi, Mcentee had to brake hard to go around the corner, seemingly losing control of the back of his car.

Police followed him along Kings Road and watched him turn the wrong way down Belmont Road, which has a one way system. At this point, officers decided it was unsafe to continue the pursuit and stopped the car.

However, shortly after, they heard a loud noise and saw a cloud of dust - the defendant had crashed the car into a wall.

Officers approached Mcentee who said "I'm sorry, I haven't done anything wrong". There was a girl in the front passenger seat, who the defendant later claimed had been telling him to keep driving.

Pictured: The defendant was questioned at the police station.

Mcentee said he believed he hadn't been doing anything wrong and therefore didn't need to stop for the police. When asked about overtaking other drivers to get away, the defendant said "they were all driving at about three miles per hour so it wasn't illegal".

In his mitigation, Advocate Paul Lockwood said it was "troubling to Kieran that he could have caused serious injury or worse. He has had a dawning realisation as to just how dangerous his actions were."

Although Mcentee was reported to have a 'high likelihood' of reoffending, Advocate Lockwood explained how he has "demonstrated that he is motivated to change and address his underlying issues".

"This was bad driving in the highest order," Judge Graeme McKerrell said on sentencing. "It could have resulted in fatality. You were, I am sure, showing off but you could have killed someone. It was fortunate that it was only a property rather than a person that you hit."

After "long and anxious consideration" Judge McKerrell decided against sending Mcentee directly to custody. Instead, he was given a 180 hour community service order and disqualified from driving for four years and two months.

He was also given a 12 month probation order, which means he will have to stay in contact with his supervisor and comply with any instructions they give.

The defendant has already repaid the owner of the wall for the damage.

Pictured top: The Royal Court House.