Thursday 13 January 2022

Newsflash, Judge: None Of Them Mean It...

A driver who was "off his head on cocaine" when he killed a highways maintenance worker mocked the man's family after being jailed.
Duval Daly, 57, stuck his tongue out at Michael Bennett's family and said: "I will be out in three years".

The justice system mocks the man's family, so I suppose it's only right the criminal gets to, as well: 

Daly, of Grove House, College Road, Waltham Cross, pleaded guilty to five offences: causing death by careless driving when over the limit for cocaine, cannabis and diazepam; and causing death while having no insurance and no licence.

And for this, he got, wait for it...six years and nine months. But why is he so sure he'll not serve the full term? 

St Albans Crown Court heard Daly, who had 55 convictions for 143 offences, was thought to have been up to 20 times the legal limit for cocaine at the time.

Ah. Of course.  

After Daly was led away, the judge offered Mr Bennett's family his sincere condolences and said he was sorry they saw him stick his tongue out.
"It puts into context his expression of remorse," he said.

Wait, surely he didn't..? 

Before Daly stuck his tongue out at the family, his barrister Richard Milne said: ”He offers his deepest condolences saying ‘no words I could say could come close to giving you peace'.”

I wonder how the barrister sleeps at night. 

H/T: i.r. jackson via email 

9 comments:

Sgt Albert Hall said...

Contempt of court. The judge should have added a separate, consecutive sentence of 12 months.

Frank said...

What does somebody have to do to get the maximum sentence for these sorts of crimes? The maximum for death by dangerous driving is 14 years. Take a third off for a guilty plea and you get 9 years 8 months. Add all the other aggravating crimes: no licence, no insurance and that should at least bump the sentence back up to the original 14 years at least. Yet the judge sees fit to sentence him to less than half that. Why can't the judge bring him back and revise the sentence in view of his insincere expressions of remorse?

Robert the Biker said...

Why is anyone surprised? Until shit like this are "vanished" and only seen again hanging from a tree branch they will keep on doing it. The proper response to "I'll be out in three years" is "We'll be waiting for you".

Anonymous said...

Frank is correct. Plus his numerous previous convictions should count against him but they rarely seem to.
Jaded

Anonymous said...

Daly played the black card.

Anonymous said...

St Albans Crown Court heard Daly, who had 55 convictions for 143 offences, was thought to have been up to 20 times the legal limit for cocaine at the time.

There's a legal limit for cocaine???

Bucko said...

"The justice system mocks the man's family, so I suppose it's only right the criminal gets to, as well: "

That's what the family should have replied to the judge

Northish said...

Fixing roads saves lives. A Highway Maintenance worker is working for the public good, in a way similar to a police officer, firefighter, nurse, doctor, or paramedic. This piece of enrichment should at least have received the same inadequate penalty as the killers of PC Andrew Harper. There is no reason why, in future, roadworkers shouldn't be covered by Harpers Law, requiring life imprisonment in cases such as this.

JuliaM said...

"Contempt of court. The judge should have added a separate, consecutive sentence of 12 months."

They are usually prickly about this, so I do wonder why this judge let it slide.

"What does somebody have to do to get the maximum sentence for these sorts of crimes?"

Interesting - I wonder how many times it's been applied?

"The proper response to "I'll be out in three years" is "We'll be waiting for you"."

And not with flowers. Well, not those sort, anyway...

"Plus his numerous previous convictions should count against him but they rarely seem to."

It seems the more you have, the more leniently you are treated. How does that make sense?!?

"That's what the family should have replied to the judge"

If only we had reporters eager to get their side in print...

"Fixing roads saves lives. A Highway Maintenance worker is working for the public good, in a way similar to a police officer, firefighter, nurse, doctor, or paramedic. "

Good point!