Ethan McCourt

Ethan McCourt was a six year old boy from Toomebridge, in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, who died in June 2022 from injuries sustained in a road crash near the Castledawson Road roundabout in Magherafelt. His death, and the criminal case that followed, became a matter of renewed public attention on 15 October 2026 when his father, Declan McCourt, pleaded guilty at Derry Crown Court to causing Ethan's death by dangerous driving.

Ethan was the son of Oonagh and Declan McCourt and was a primary three pupil at St Mary's Primary School in Bellaghy. He played underage Gaelic football for Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAC, which later described him in a club tribute as a player whose loss had devastated the team and the wider community. School staff at St Mary's remembered him in similar terms, and friends and neighbours spoke of a close knit community shaken by the sudden loss of a young child.

The crash that killed him happened on the morning of 20 June 2022, as Ethan was travelling to school. It was a two vehicle collision at the Castledawson Road roundabout in Magherafelt, County Londonderry. Ethan was taken to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children with serious injuries; his father, who had been driving, was also hospitalised. Three other people were taken to hospital following the crash. Ethan died a few days later, on 25 June 2022, having been due to turn seven the following week.

In the aftermath, Ethan's family chose to donate his organs, a decision reported at the time as having given a new chance at life to six other people. His funeral Mass was held at the Church of St Mary in Bellaghy, and he was remembered in the funeral notice as the beloved son of Oonagh and Declan, and grandson of Bernard and Margaret McKenna and of Mary and the late Mick McCourt.

For more than four years the question of criminal responsibility for the crash remained unresolved. That changed on 15 October 2026, when Declan McCourt, by then 47 and living at Bardahessiagh Road in Pomeroy, appeared at Derry Crown Court and pleaded guilty to causing his son's death by dangerous driving, as well as to a related charge of causing death while driving without a valid licence. He was made subject to a mandatory driving disqualification from the date of his plea and was released on bail, with the case adjourned to 5 November 2026 for a sentencing date to be fixed. Defence counsel described the case as distressing in the extreme and said McCourt felt complete remorse for what had happened.