A driver who hit two cyclists while drink driving has been told to pay a court imposed fine of €20,000 by New Year’s Eve.
Muiris Flynn spent time in
prison and had already been released by the time an appeal over the undue
leniency of his sentence reached the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The appeal court agreed the sentence imposed on him was too lenient but decided against imposing more jail time on time. Increasing his prison time would have meant Flynn being sent back to jail and he had already lost his job in Irish Rail and found a new job after being freed from jail.
Instead of the additional prison
time, Mr Justice John Edwards, presiding with Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and
Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly, increased his sentence by the imposition of a fine
of €20,000.
Advertisement
The appeal court was told that Flynn could pay the fine with the help of a family loan which he would repay by paying about a third of his wages every week for about the next three years. Mr Justice Edwards said the fine money should be paid by December 31st.
Flynn, Meadow Bank, Geevagh, Co Sligo was initially jailed for four years, with the final 2½ years suspended, for dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm and was also banned from driving for eight years.
He was convicted on other
charges – drink driving and driving without insurance – for which he received a
four-month sentence and two three-year driver disqualifications. That jail time
and the disqualifications were served at the same time as the longer sentence
and longer driving ban.
Related News
By the time the case went back
to the Court of Criminal Appeal 31-year-old Flynn had been released from his
prison sentence and had found a job.
Stickybottle reported on the crash at the time, in September 2017, when
Flynn hit two female cyclists – members of Lough Key Triathlon Club – from
behind.
The two injured riders were part
of a three-person group out training at Doon, north Roscommon, on a Sunday
morning ride.
Flynn pleaded guilty to
dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm. He stopped at the scene of the
crash and offered what help he could.
Gardai said he also admitted he
had been drinking the previous night. He was arrested at the scene and an
alcohol test showed he had 80mg of alcohol per 100mls of breath.
The court was told the three victims were wearing brightly coloured high visibility clothing when the crash occurred at about 9.30am on Sunday, September 24th, 2017.
One of the cyclists was left
with a broken pelvis and broken leg. The other injured rider suffered a broken
back. The third woman with them was uninjured.
Both injured women also
sustained abrasions and other soft tissue injuries and in their victim impact
statement at the time of Flynn’s sentencing the court was told one of them
prayed at the scene as she believed she was about to die.
Topics
