Sentencing policy

Sir, – Close your eyes and visualise this. A male member of your family is out cycling on a beautiful day in Dublin. Out of nowhere a car breaks a red light and hits him causing serious injuries, resulting in his death. When it goes to court we find the driver had been banned from driving at the time and had never held a driving licence and he also admitted to leaving the scene of the crash and to driving without insurance. He drove off at speed from the crash, dangerously overtaking a number of other cars.

He waited six days after the collision before going to the Garda. He gets 2½ years in prison.

Now open your eyes. This was a real case ("Disqualified driver jailed for killing cyclist ", June 23rd).

How can this be explained to the family of that 62-year-old who was killed when the maximum sentence for dangerous driving causing death is 10 years? – Yours, etc,

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DAMIEN CARROLL,

Dublin 24.