A man who received a fully suspended sentence for causing the death of a 24-year-old woman in a 2008 crash has had a lifetime driving ban quashed by the Court of Appeal, which instead imposed a lesser disqualification of 20 years.
The three-judge court also found that had Brian Kelly’s appeal been lodged closer to the time of the offending behaviour, his suspended sentence would have been quashed and a custodial sentence would have been “all but inevitable”.
Kelly (43), of St Brigid’s Place, Portlaoise, was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for a period of two years on December 15th, 2009 by Judge Anthony Kennedy sitting at Portlaoise Circuit Criminal Court after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Claire Hennessy on October 18th, 2008. He was also disqualified from holding a driving licence for life.
A Garda forensic collision report carried out at the time noted that speed and alcohol intake were the sole reasons for the fatal incident.
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Kelly, who was 26 at the time of the crash, appealed his sentence arguing that the imposition of a lifetime driving disqualification represented an error in principle on the part of the sentencing judge.
Delivering judgment on the appeal on Monday, Ms Justice Tara Burns said in light of the fact that lifetime disqualification orders are only appropriately imposed in exceptional cases – usually involving repeat offending which did not arise in this case – the court was of the opinion that the sentencing judge erred in imposing the lifetime ban.
Quashing the original suspended jail sentence, Ms Justice Burns said that had the court been imposing sentence closer to the time of the offending, a custodial sentence would have been “all but inevitable”. However, she said as almost 16 years have passed since the incident it would “simply be unjust” to impose a term of imprisonment at this stage.
The three-judge court quashed the lifetime driving ban and imposed a 20-year driving disqualification on Kelly before proceeding to resentence him to two years imprisonment suspended for two years.
Outlining the background to the case, Ms Justice Burns said Kelly had been drinking at home on the night of October 17th, 2008 when a group of friends, including Ms Hennessy, called to his house. He later volunteered to take Ms Hennessy to a service station to get cigarettes.
On the return journey, Kelly passed the entrance to the estate where he lived and shortly afterwards, on a left bend in the road where there was a 50km/h speed limit, his vehicle crossed on to the other side of the road and mounted the footpath before becoming airborne for a distance and colliding with the outer block wall of an apartment building.
Emergency services were called and Ms Hennessy showed no vital signs at the scene and was later pronounced dead.
Kelly, who was also seriously injured, spoke to gardaí who detected a smell of alcohol. A blood sample taken revealed a concentration of 172mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Two residents from the area described hearing a car approaching the area at speed with “the engine roaring” before hearing a loud bang.
Kelly was arrested and when interviewed he was unable to recall driving at, or immediately before the collision, but confirmed he had been drinking at home and had driven the deceased to get cigarettes.
Colm Hennessy BL, for Kelly, argued that the driving disqualification for life was a barrier to the appellant’s continued rehabilitation. He said the ban was so restrictive that it amounted to an indefinite punishment and was therefore wrong in principle.
Will Fennelly BL, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said to interfere with the lifetime disqualification “is to render the sentence imposed by the court at the time completely unbalanced.
“It would undoubtedly make it unduly lenient,” he said.
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