A RETIRED nurse who was over the alcohol limit when he knocked down and killed an 87-year-old male pedestrian has been jailed for two years.
Tipperary man Gerard Brett (65) knocked Benedict (Benny) Brady seven feet in the air when he hit him on a dark and wet evening in north Co Dublin. Mr Brady was taken to hospital but died six days later from his injuries.
The court heard Brett is on dialysis because of chronic liver failure. His counsel submitted that his condition could have led to a build-up of alcohol in his bloodstream from several nights of drinking.
Judge Martin Nolan accepted that Brett had been a “good hard-working man all his life” but said his dangerous driving had resulted in him killing a man.
“I have to impose a custodial sentence. He made a decision to drive that night with that amount of alcohol,” the judge said.
The judge had asked at the sentencing hearing on Tuesday if Brett’s condition made him more likely to contract an infection in prison. Defence counsel replied it was a significant factor that the court should keep in mind.
Judge Nolan accepted that prison would be very difficult for Brett, that he had no previous convictions and had co-operated with the Garda investigation.
“But it is inexcusable what he did,” the judge said, before sentencing Brett and disqualifying him from driving for three years.
Brett of Marrian Court, Marton Street, Clonmel, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing death and drink driving on Portrane Road, Portrane, on January 21st, 2010.
Garda Noel Callan told prosecuting counsel Vincent Heneghan that just before 8pm, Brett was driving erratically. A witness driving behind him later told gardaí he thought Brett was going to drive into a ditch as he rounded a dangerous bend.
About 60 yards after the bend, Mr Brady, a “well-regarded and popular man”, was crossing the road. Brett’s car struck him in the legs and threw him seven feet through the air. Mr Brady was taken to Beaumont Hospital where he died on January 27th, 2010, having never recovered consciousness. A postmortem found the victim died of cardiac arrest as a result of swelling on the brain caused by the crash.