A 92-year-old man has been disqualified from driving for ten years for a collision which led to a woman being crushed against the wall of a Donegal Town pub.
Donegal District Court heard that Kevin Meehan of The Glebe, Donegal Town, was parking his car at Tirconaill Street shortly before 8pm on September 6, 2023.
The car shot backwards through a glass and metal partition and collided with diners in the outdoor seating area, injuring three people.
Inspector Anthony Coyle told the court one of these people had ‘serious crush injuries’.
Reading the witness statement, Judge Ciaran Liddy said a Mrs O’Keefe was dining outside the Olde Castle Bar when all of a sudden a car came crashing across the seating area. Her husband was knocked to the ground and she was pushed up against the wall of the bar.
“She remembers people screaming, and she woke up 12 days later in the Mater Hospital with catastrophic injuries,” the court heard.
“They are certainly life-changing injuries. She will have to deal with the aftermath of this incident for years to come.”
Solicitor, Ciaran White, said his client had been parking and wasn’t satisfied that he was parked squarely to the kerb. While attempting to correct his parking position, the defendant’s foot slipped onto the accelerator pedal.
“The injured party is on the verge of recovery,” said Mr White. “She is pursuing a civil claim so she is going to be compensated.
“My client also suffered, not to the same extent of course. He lives alone. His car was impounded. He cannot walk into town. This has had a big impact on his mobility. His licence expired a few months after.”
Asking the judge to consider striking the matter out, he added the victim has indicated that she doesn’t want a custodial sentence but does want a long disqualification.
“My client has taken himself off the road,” Mr White said.
Judge Liddy said that he could not simply strike the matter out.
“That is not a course that is open to me,” he told the solicitor, adding: “It is difficult to contemplate how her life changed in an instant. It was very traumatic for her husband and the people who witnessed it. In an extraordinary act of kindness to your client, she doesn’t want a custodial sentence. All she wants is an explanation.
“I would like it conveyed that your client’s foot slipped from one pedal to the other. In that act, the fallout was devastating.”
The court heard that the victim lived in Cork and had been on holidays in Donegal at the time of the collision. She was unable to travel for the court hearing.
Judge Liddy said that the letter from the victim had made his decision easier.
“I don’t have to consider a custodial sentence,” he said.
The judge took into consideration the defendant’s age, the fact that he had never come to adverse garda attention prior to the incident, and that his driving licence had expired.
Judge Liddy imposed a fine of €500 and disqualified Meehan from holding a licence for ten years.
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