The hit and run driver who killed cyclist Eugene Maher had 15 previous convictions and was on his third driving ban at the time. Above, Mr Maher with his daughter Lisa Marie who has spoken about on road safety since her father was killed.
A motorist who killed a Dublin cyclist while speeding and banned from driving and after breaking a red light has been sentenced to 2½ years in jail.
Christopher Coleman (27) fled the scene of the collision before dumping his car and escaping the area by bus with friends he was with.
However, the sentencing judge said Coleman had grown up in difficult circumstances and had parents who both had addiction issues.
She noted he was in employment, had undertaken training and also currently had a job meaning he was at low risk of re-offending.
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The dead man's family said outside the court in Dublin today they were devastated with the sentence and they believed justice had not been done.
Eugene Maher, a 62-year-old father of two, suffered fatal head injuries when he was knocked off his bike in Clontarf, north Dublin, in June of last year.
Coleman, Reuben St, Dublin, has pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Maher at Clontarf Road on June 30th.
Coleman also pleaded guilty to driving without insurance and leaving the scene of the collision.
The sentencing hearing scheduled for last week was adjourned until today, to give Judge Melanie Greally time to consider all of the evidence in the case.
The court was told that witnesses saw Coleman’s car being driven dangerously on Clontarf Rd just before the collision and that there were a number of other men in the vehicle.
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One of the men was seen leaning out the window and gesturing to another car.
Coleman told gardai after the incident that he was trying to make an amber light turning onto Howth Road at the time and that he pulled a handbrake turn trying to stop so as to avoid Mr Maher.
He apologised to the dead man’s family and having fled the scene on the day he went to the Gardai six days later and took full responsibility for what he had done.
He accepted he was speeding and said because he had been banned from driving and was driving without insurance he panicked and fled the scene.
Before fleeing, one of the occupants of the car got out and walked towards Mr Maher before getting back into the vehicle.
The car, a silver Volkswagen Golf (05 D registered), was later found abandoned in the Marino housing estate less than one kilometre from the scene.
Coleman and the men he was with stopped a bus and left the area on it, telling the driver they were being chased by other men.
The court was told that Mr Maher was thrown up onto the bonnet of the car and then onto the road.
Coleman has 15 previous convictions and had been disqualified from driving in November 2012 for six years.
He had previously been banned from driving in February 2009 and also in January 2012.
The dead man’s son, League of Ireland soccer player Stephen Maher, identified the remains at Beaumont Hospital on the day his father was killed.
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