Dangerous driving term increased on DPP appeal

A man who was effectively jailed for two years for dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm and who served a three-year sentence in the UK for dangerous driving causing death had his sentence increased to three years and six months at the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.

Mr Justice Lynch said the number of crimes involving deliberate injury were small compared with those involving the car. He said there were 400-500 road deaths annually and some 50,000 in the EU. Such figures cancelled out the distinction between deliberate injury and dangerous driving, he remarked.

The three-judge court granted an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions against the leniency of a sentence imposed on John Dodd (31), Innishanagh Park, Newcastle, Galway, by Judge Yvonne Murphy at Galway Circuit Criminal Court.

The sentence was imposed after Dodd pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm and failing to keep a vehicle at or near the scene of an accident at Carraroe on August 17th, 1997.

Judge Murphy jailed him for three years on the dangerous driving charge and six months, to be served concurrently, on the lesser charge. She suspended the final 18 months making it, according to Mr Justice Lynch, effectively a two-year sentence.

Mr James Fahy for the DPP said the director regarded the sentence as unduly lenient given the circumstances of the crime and Mr Dodd's previous convictions, including a 1992 conviction in the UK for dangerous driving causing death, six convictions for "joy-riding" and other convictions relating to the unlawful taking of cars, larceny and drugs offences.

On August 17th, 1997, Mr Gearoid Walsh, then aged 20, was walking from a disco to a chip shop with some friends on a straight but unlit stretch of road when, walking "slightly" on the road abreast his friends, he was hit by a car driven by Dodd who had bought it for £500 the previous day. It was neither taxed nor insured.

Mr Fahy said Mr Walsh was thrown onto the footpath. The car stopped and a woman got out. When other people approached the car it left the scene, leaving the woman behind. Dodd later set the car alight in Galway and went voluntarily to the i Garda 12 hours after the incident.

Mr Fahy said the injuries sustained by Mr Walsh were catastrophic. He suffered a very serious head injury which has left him with a severe limp.

He was still in rehabilitation and it was unlikely he would be able to work. His main problems were physical and the incident did not appear to have left him with an intellectual impairment, although he had difficulties concentrating.

Opposing the appeal, Mr Patrick Gageby SC, for Dodd, said this was not a case where no custodial sentence or a minor custodial sentence was imposed. The trial judge had carefully considered the facts including Dodd's previous convictions and had heard evidence from Dodd, who exhibited remorse.

It was a factor in Dodd's favour that he made a full statement, pleaded guilty and was very remorseful to the extent he rang the hospital seeking news about Mr Walsh so often that the victim's family asked him to desist. Dodd had also stated he burned the vehicle because he felt it was bad luck.

This might not be a case which demonstrated the greatest culpability, Mr Gageby said. The evidence regarding dangerous driving related to speed. There was no evidence of intent or deliberation, this was a crime of negligence and recklessness, the effects of which should not be visited on Dodd.

Mr Justice Lynch, with Mr Justice O'Higgins and Mr Justice Smith, said Dodd had been convicted for dangerous driving causing death in the UK and had damaged, if not destroyed, a life in Ireland. Mr Walsh's parents would have the burden of looking after him for a long time.

Giving the court's decision, he said the sentence was unduly lenient largely because of the number and type of Dodd's previous convictions, above all his conviction in the UK. The judge also noted that the penalties for dangerous driving offences had been increased from a maximum five to 10 years.

In the circumstances, the court would remove the suspension of 18 months of the sentence imposed by Judge Murphy, leaving a sentence of 3 1/2 years.