A DIRECTOR of a Donegal haulage firm has been charged with offences connected to the death of a lorry driver on the A5 outside Omagh in 2022.

On Tuesday, 40-year-old William Gill of Lisfannan, Buncrana, appeared at Omagh Magistrates Court charged with a number of motoring offences.

The charges follow an investigation into the death of 20-year-old Jonathan Reilly, one of Gill’s employees, who was killed when the Scania articulated lorry he was driving crashed on the Beltany Road in August 2022.

District Judge Barney McElholm, who told the court that he had been driving behind the lorry at the time of the crash, described it as a ‘devastating scene’ and offered his condolences to the Reilly family, who were present in court.

Gill faces charges of recording false data on recording equipment, making or permitting a false entry, failing as an employer to allow the driver to take a break, two counts of employing a driver in contravention of rest requirements, and two counts of having defective tyres on the lorry. The alleged offences date to August 15 and 16, 2022.

A police sergeant from the Road Collision Unit told the court he could connect Gill to the charges.

Defence counsel Aoife McAuley objected, arguing that Gill and the company were ‘two separate legal entities’ and that it should be the company facing charges.

The sergeant explained that the investigation was launched following the crash and that by January 2023 police had ‘enough evidence’ to charge the company.

However, jurisdiction difficulties delayed the process, with three unsuccessful attempts to contact Gill before Gardaí assisted in facilitating an interview.

Ms McAuley highlighted that police had initially sought ‘any representative’ of the company, not specifically Gill.

Judge McElholm ruled that Gill could be connected to the charges, remarking that ‘companies don’t make decisions, people do’, and that directors accused of criminal actions should not be able to ‘hide behind a corporate name’.

The case was adjourned until October 28 for an update in preparation for it to be sent to the Crown Court for trial.