A bar manager was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison sentence yesterday in relation to the death of a woman in a car accident in north Cork.
Mr Jason Lawlor (30), of Woodvale Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin, was charged with dangerous driving causing the death of Ms Susan O'Neill on March 31st, 2003, near Kilworth. Mr Lawlor pleaded guilty to the charge before Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.
Insp Pat McCarthy told Judge Patrick Moran that on the morning of the accident the victim had left a friend's house in Leamlara. Shortly after 11.15 a.m., the vehicle of the deceased collided with a jeep travelling from the Dublin direction.
Mr Lawlor lost control of the Isuzu jeep on a bend, and moved across the centre of the road and into the path of Ms O'Neill. She was killed instantly.
The court was told that Mr Lawlor was driving the vehicle that morning because the regular driver had suffered a dislocated shoulder.
The jeep had left Dublin earlier that morning, and was en route to a wind turbine site on the Nagle Mountains. It was towing a trailer full of "scaffolding mesh", and, according to Insp McCarthy, it was travelling too fast to handle the load it was carrying.
Prosecuting barrister Mr Don McCarthy said the accused "should have been more careful of the load he was carrying".
Since the accident Mr Lawlor has changed work, and is currently employed as a bar manager in a Dublin pub. He has not driven since the collision.
The dead woman's husband, Mr Brian O'Neill, a Scottish jeweller, told about his heartbreak following the death of his wife.
"Eleven months ago my life changed. I had the greatest life anyone could wish for. We spent time building a house, and we were planning for a family, but one phone call changed all that.
"Everything I hoped for, dreamed for, had changed.
"My wife, Susan, was highly intelligent and was beautiful. We talked so many times about moving out of the country because house prices were so expensive here, but she wanted to stay to be close to her family."
Mr O'Neill told the court he could never forgive the driver of the jeep.
"On a bad day I wish terrible things for him, but he didn't set out to cause the accident. Sue's no longer there, and when I go to bed every night she's gone. She was a very special woman - they say time heals, but things are never the same again."
Judge Patrick Moran agreed it was a tragic accident, but that members of the public must be responsible for their actions. "We all drive on this road - I drove on it last night. We have to obey the speed limit and control our vehicles.
"I have to ask would a custodial sentence be any benefit? I don't think so," he said.
He sentenced Mr Lawlor to two years' imprisonment, and bound him to the peace for two years. He also disqualified him from driving for 10 years.