A drunk driver broke a red light and smashed into another car, leaving a Zimbabwean refugee needing 24-hour supervision for the rest of her life, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard.
Ms Faye Sherlock was more than three times the legal limit when she crashed into the car, causing Ms Yvonne Nutuhle to be flung out of the rear-side window and end up 26 feet away on the opposite side of a dual carriageway at Blackrock, Co Dublin, in August 2002.
The 23-year-old, who was an asylum-seeker at the time but has since been granted refugee status, remains in hospital after suffering severe brain injuries in the accident.
According to medical reports, she will require 24-hour supervision for the rest of her life.
Ms Sherlock (24), originally from Highland Grove, The Park, Cabinteely, but now living in Bray, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to Ms Nutuhle and drunk driving on August 31th, 2002.
Judge Michael White said that because of the very grave circumstances surrounding the incident, he needed some time to reflect on the matter. He adjourned sentence until July 16th and remanded Ms Sherlock on continuing bail.
Sgt John Burke agreed with Mr Adrian Mannering SC, for Ms Sherlock, that she had been the victim of a sexual assault by a close friend three months before the accident.
She had not told any of her friends, but on the night a friend of the offender had joined their group in the pub and told everybody about the incident.
Garda Derek Maguire told the court that the person involved in the sexual assault had since pleaded guilty to that offence in the District Court and been given the Probation Act and ordered to pay €1,600 in compensation.
Mr Mannering told the court that after the incident in the pub Ms Sherlock "just snapped" and drove when she was in no fit state to do so.
She was a single mother with a seven-year-old son who was emotionally disturbed and if she was jailed he would be put into foster care.