Drug addict driver jailed for killing pedestrian

A drug addict who knocked down and killed a mother of four while she was shopping with her sister in the centre of Dublin last year has received a 3½-year sentence and a 30-year driving ban.

The victim was a Coombe hospital midwife who “seems to have been an extraordinary woman”, Judge Mary Ellen Ring said. She heard that a specialised unit in the Coombe had been named after her and bore her photograph, she said.

Philip Trimble (35) later told gardaí he wished it was he who had died and not the victim.

Previous convictions

Trimble, Oscar Traynor Road, Santry, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the death of Frances McCarthy (56) on Middle Abbey Street in Dublin on January 11th, 2013. He also pleaded guilty to driving with no insurance and failing to comply with road markings. He has 12 previous convictions for drugs offences and burglary.

Mounted footpath

The court heard Trimble had been driving at more than 50mph when his Hyundai mounted a footpath and hit a roadside signpost near Marks & Spencer.

Ms McCarthy was run over by the car and despite several attempts by paramedics to resuscitate her, she was pronounced dead at the Mater Hospital a short time later.

Her sister, Mary O’Connor, and a third pedestrian, Brian Sexton, were lifted on to the bonnet, carried some yards and thrown to the ground in the same collision. Other witnesses said the car’s driver lit a cigarette and seemed more concerned about his vehicle afterwards.

Trimble struggled to give his address and phone number and became aggressive with a garda.

At the sentence hearing yesterday, Ms McCarthy’s husband described in a victim impact statement, read on his behalf, how life as he knew it “came to a sudden end” when his wife of 27 years was killed by the car.

Denis McCarthy said he brought his wife a cup of tea before leaving for work and that the last thing she had said on the phone was to ask him what he would like for dinner. Her final text to him had said: “What would I do without you?”

Methadone

In sentencing Trimble, Judge Ring noted that the father of four said he was on methadone but there had been no trace of the substance in his system on the day of the crash. His breathalyser test also came back negative.

Judge Ring noted that though a psychologist’s report indicated a condition like epilepsy could explain Trimble’s behaviour, there was no evidence of this in court.

She said it was “very easy to forget the power of a vehicle, either large or small”. She added that in this case a smaller vehicle had caused a death as easily as a lorry.

The judge commented that there was little done to see if a person, having passed the driving test at 20 years old, still knew the rules of the road aged 50.

She accepted Trimble’s remorse and early plea and suspended the final 12 months of the sentence for a year.