Sadness and disappointment overwhelm Ronan Keating (47), former member of the band Boyzone and one of the most well-known Irish singer-songwriters on the planet. The musician posted a heartbreaking message on his social media on Thursday morning: "Today's verdict has been a devastating example of how broken our justice system is. You can kill a man and walk free, not even spend a night in prison. Just a slap on the wrist and a fine to carry on with your life, as if nothing had happened."
Referring to the death of his 57-year-old brother Ciaran, who lost his life in a car accident in July 2023 near Swinford (County Mayo, Ireland) when the 22-year-old driver D.H. veered his Audi A3 onto the wrong side and collided head-on with the Ford Focus driven by Ciaran Keating. His wife Annmarie, who was in the passenger seat, was seriously injured.
The couple was on their way to watch their son Ruarí (29), a center forward for Cork City FC in the Irish Premier League. British media such as Daily Mail,Belfast Live, and Daily Express have picked up on this news that is spreading rapidly on social media. Ronan questions "why we continue to see this kind of behavior" on our roads: people dying in traffic accidents across Ireland every week. "This is a joke," he expresses, adding that "everyone involved in this process who contributed to the heartbreaking outcome my family faced today should be more ashamed."
A neighbor of Ciaran in Westport commented on Instagram, "Ciaran lived a few doors down. He was a lovely man..." Those who knew him say he was always helpful and humble, not flaunting his brother's fame, who would sometimes cause a stir in the street when visiting his family. Fans continue to show affectionate support for the performer of When You Say Nothing At All.
Since starting his solo career in 1999, Ronan Keating has released 11 albums selling over 25 million copies worldwide. A year before, he had married Yvonne Connolly, with whom he has three children, Jack (26), Missy (24), and Ali (20), but due to an infidelity with dancer France Cornell, his wife filed for divorce. In 2015, he married television producer Storm Uechtritz, who gave birth to Cooper (8) and Coco Knox (5).
The Keating family resides in a splendid six-million-euro mansion on the outskirts of London, a renovation that lasted five years. At the end of last year, they temporarily moved to Sydney, where they have been photographed several times at Bondi Beach, one of the city's most famous beaches where Hugh Jackman (56) is also spotted.