15-year-old Molly Dempsey, who was a passenger in the car, died in the single-vehicle collision, while the driver was arrested at the scene
17:45, 15 Nov 2025Updated 17:48, 15 Nov 2025
The remains are carried from church pictured after the funeral of 15-year-old Molly Dempsey from Baltinglass who died in a car crash in the early hours of May 5, 2024
An uninsured young motorist who was responsible for a fatal crash in Co Wicklow last year which killed his teenage passenger admitted in a 999 call that it was his first time ever driving a car.
The 18-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at a sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court to a charge of dangerous driving causing death. The offence occurred at Slaney Park, Baltinglass, Co Wicklow in the early hours of May 5, 2024 – a few weeks short of the accused’s 17th birthday.
Molly Dempsey (15) the youngest of nine children from Whitehall Park, Baltinglass, Co Wicklow who was a passenger in the car, died in the single-vehicle collision. The driver, who was uninjured in the incident, was arrested at the scene of the crash by gardaí.
The defendant, who was accompanied to court by his father, also pleaded guilty to two related charges of driving without insurance and driving without a driving licence. There were emotional scenes at a sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court as several members of the deceased’s family read out victim impact statements.
Mary Dempsey, centre, mother and other family members of the late Molly Dempsey pictured at the sentencing hearing at Wicklow Circuit Court of a teenager who was driving a car in which 15 year old Molly Dempsey died on May 5, 2024 in Baltinglass(Image: Colin Keegan/Collins)
A sister of the victim also ran shouting out of the courtroom when details of four 999 calls made by the accused were read out in court. The defendant alerted emergency call-takers that she was “going to die” and branded himself as “a f**king eejit.”
In his last call, the teenager said: “I’m the lad who killed her. I’m only 16. It’s the first time I drove a car.” Sergeant Gary Duffy said witnesses had described to gardaí how a car was heard revving hard and being seen driving erratically at around 4.30 on May 5, 2024 in the estate where Ms Dempsey lived.
He told counsel for the DPP, James Kelly BL, that the accused had taken his mother’s Toyota Auris to call to her house, even though he had no driving licence. The court heard the vehicle crashed about two kilometres from Ms Dempsey’s home after it hit a tree and a stone wall when it failed to take a bend before ending up on its side.
Paramedics attempted to resuscitate the teenager for 50 minutes before she was pronounced dead at the scene. A postmortem showed Ms Dempsey, who was a student at Scoil Chonglais in Baltinglass, died from crush injuries to her chest and abdomen.
The cortege makes its way through Baltinglass followed by a large crowd of mourners after the funeral of 15-year-old Molly Dempsey
Sgt Duffy said the accused, who has no previous convictions, failed a roadside breathalyser test for alcohol but a further reading taken in a Garda station showed a “zero” level. The court heard a report by a forensic collision investigator concluded that the vehicle had lost control due to excessive speed, while it was not possible to establish if either occupant had been wearing a seat belt.
The deceased’s sister, Yvonne Dempsey, said she was in court to speak for her sister whose life was taken at the hands of an underage, uninsured driver. While they had suffered other tragedies, Ms Dempsey said the loss of the baby of the family had “left a wound that will never close.”
“I cannot describe what it feels like to watch your family shrink again and again knowing you will never see certain faces or share certain memories again,” she added. Molly’s death was the third tragedy to strike her family as her parents, Nigel and Mary, also previously suffered the deaths of two of their sons – Roy in 2007 aged 13 and Killian in 2016 aged 16.
Ms Dempsey said the accused had shown a reckless disregard for the law and her sister’s safety. Fighting back tears she told the court she was haunted every day by wondering if a call she received about five minutes after the fatal accident was “a cry for help” from Molly.
“No sentence or legal action can bring Molly back but I need the court to understand that her life matters. She’s not just another statistic. She was the glue holding us together,” said Ms Dempsey. Her mother, Mary Dempsey, remarked: “Our family seems like it’s just vanishing before us.”
She described her youngest daughter as “the light of our lives” who got her wish of having a niece just two weeks before her death. While they would never know the life she might have led, Ms Dempsey said they did know that “our bubbly, happy, ear-to-ear smiling girl is gone.”
Another sister of the deceased, Ella Demsey, said her sister’s absence had traumatised her. “I should never have been put in the position that I had to do my little sister’s hair and make-up for her funeral instead of for her debs and her wedding,” she wept.
Ms Dempsey said Molly deserved to be remembered for the joy and beauty she brought rather than for her tragic death. The court heard that the Dempsey family did not wish to receive an apology offered by the accused.
Defence counsel, Michael Hourigan SC, acknowledged that Molly’s death was every parent’s worst nightmare and that the loss of such a loved one could not be overstated or quantified. Judge Patrick Quinn adjourned finalisation of sentencing in the case until January 13, 2026.
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