A drink-driver who broke a red light and smashed into another car leaving a Zimbabwean refugee needing constant care for the rest of her life has been remanded for sentencing for dangerous driving.
Faye Sherlock, a single mother, was more than three times the legal limit when she crashed into the car causing Ms Yvonne Nutuhle to be flung out the rear side window and end up 26 feet away on the opposite side of a dual carriageway at Blackrock 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 to this day after suffering severe brain injuries in the accident. According to medical reports she will require 24-hour supervision for the rest of her life.
Sherlock (24), originally from Highland Grove, The Park, Cabinteely, but now living in Bray, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to Ms Nutuhle and drunk driving on August 31th, 2002.
Judge Michael White said 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 Sherlock on continuing bail.
Sergeant John Burke told the court some witnesses described Sherlock's Daihatsu Charade driving erratically along Carysfort Avenue at 2 a.m just before the accident at the junction of Frascati Road after she had left a pub in Dalkey.
As she approached the lights, which witnesses claimed were red, she kept driving and crashed straight into the Fiat Cinquento, containing Ms Nutuhle and two Nigerian friends. Investigators also discovered that Sherlock was driving over the 30 mph speed limit at the time.
Ms Nutuhle spent some weeks in St Vincent's Hospital before being moved to Beaumont. She was later transferred to the National Rehabilitation Hospital before returning to St Vincent's and was currently a patient in St Luke's Hospital.
Doctors have reported that she has a limited understanding of her difficulties and it is hoped that she will one day be able to walk with the assistance of just one person. She would need 24 hour supervision for the rest of her life.
The court heard Sherlock has a seven-year-old son who was emotionally disturbed and if she was jailed he would be put into foster care.