“I feel sick to my stomach. Paul is gone and so too is a massive part of my heart.”
Paul Marshall died in hospital following the collision
A grieving family have recalled how they spent their final hours with their much-loved brother playing his favourite music and talking to him in hospital before he passed after being hit by a drunk driver.
Paul Marshall, 70 died after he was hit by a van driven by John Taggart (36), of Torrens Link in North Belfast.
Taggart pleaded guilty to a charge of causing the death of by driving dangerously within the vicinity of Divis Street, Castle Street and Millfield junction in Belfast on Monday, September 2, 2024. He also admitted that on the same date, he was driving a Ford van with excess alcohol on his breath.
He will spend three years in jail followed by a similar period on supervised licence for what the Judge described as his “grotesque consumption of alcohol” which caused the fatal collision.
Family relatives, some of whom appeared in court for the sentencing hearing today (Friday), penned moving and poignant victim impact statements to the court.
Gerry Marshall wrote: “Paul was our big brother, and the horror of what happened to him led us to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he was on a life support machine for six days.
“During those days, the family spoke to Paul, played his favourite music and we were then confronted with the enormity of telling us his life was unsustainable.”
He says he has struggled since and reflects on those moments, “with the loss of Paul, my big brother”.
“Paul kept himself very much to himself and had grown out of the despair of being a lifelong paranoid schizophrenic in his younger years and settling into his older years with a quiet solitude and contentment that has now been taken away from him.
“We miss and we love him so much.”
Deidre Trainor referred to her deceased brother as “kind, generous and gifted, who had a great sense of humour”.
She wrote: “He could fill the room with the warmth of his big smile”
Mrs Trainor said she experiences the “very serious sense of loss of Paul’s death” and when she passes where Paul died she pictures him “standing at the lights waiting to cross, his innocence, bothering nobody and happily going about his day.
“I feel sick to my stomach. Paul is gone and so too is a massive part of my heart.”
Another sister, Maria McShane, described Paul as “her big brother and the most kind and gentle person”.
“Losing Paul in such a wild way has left a large hole in my life that can never be filled. I treasure his memory,” she concluded.
Belfast Crown Court heard that at around 5.30 pm on September 2, 2024, he drove his work pharmaceutical van from Great Victoria Street and College Avenue northbound in the direction of Millfield.
As he approached the junction in the outside lane, Taggart was behind a Honda Civic car which then moved into the inside lane.
A prosecution barrister said that if Taggart had been “driving competently, the obvious response at that point is just to touch the brakes and to hold back so that the car can move in.”
Instead, Taggart “undertook the vehicle to get through and it’s that which led him to mount the traffic island” where Mr Marshall was standing.
The pensioner was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he passed away almost a week later from “catastrophic injuries” which included a serious fracture to his skull along with spine, rib, writs and toe fractures.
Passing the six year determinate custodial sentence, Judge Rafferty said: “Given the grotesque nature of his consumption of alcohol and him being a professional driver, the minimum period of disqualification is one of seven years. Take him into custody.”
As Mr Marshall’s family were leaving the court following the hearing, Judge Rafferty removed his wig and addressed them personally.
He said: “Can I say that you did Paul proud in the way that you wrote about him. I had a very, very vivid picture of Paul because of the way you wrote about him.
“All judges find these cases very difficult. We have to try to proportionate sentences against the dreadful loss that you have suffered. I wish today brings some degree of closure.”
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