Courts

Man who caused ‘life-altering injuries’ to woman in ‘bomb-like’ crash has driving ban reduced

Paul Coen (47) has 10-year ban reduced to seven years on appeal because of impact on his family life and work

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy reduced Coen's ban despite his 'outrageous' driving. Photograph: Collins Courts

Paul Neilan
Thu Dec 15 2022 - 19:49

A Cork motorist who caused “life-altering injuries” to a woman in a head-on collision after he drank alcohol has had a 10-year driving ban cut by three years on appeal.

In May 2021, a sentencing judge described the collision as being “like a bomb exploding” when he jailed Paul Coen for four years with the last year suspended and banned him from driving for 10 years. Coen was also sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for failing to provide a urine or blood sample to gardaí.

“I am very concerned about this man ever driving again given the nature of his problem. Given this man’s stability, or lack of it, I don’t think he is a candidate for the open road,” Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Paul Coen (47) of Templemany, Buttevant, Co Cork had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm at Quartertown Upper, Mallow, Co Cork and to refusing to give a urine or blood sample to gardaí when at Cork University Hospital on December 1st, 2019.

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At the sentencing hearing, Det Gda Patrick Sexton said Coen’s Ford Focus went on to the wrong side of the road and into the path of a Toyota Corolla causing a head-on collision with a family on a shopping trip.

While the man and his daughter suffered injuries, the woman who was driving the car was seriously injured and had to be airlifted to hospital where her condition was critical.

She said in her victim impact statement that there was not a day in the 17 months since the crash that she did not wake up in the morning feeling sad or in pain as a result of the crash.

Det Gda Sexton said witnesses had seen the Ford Focus being driven erratically before the crash. A witness said she had concerns when she saw Coen’s erratic driving and the driver pulling up outside a pub in Rathduff and going inside.

At the Court of Appeal today, Coen’s counsel Sinead Behan BL said the disqualification of 10 years was “unduly punitive” and that the five-year headline sentence fixed by the trial judge before mitigation was “excessive”.

Ms Behan said her client had mental health issues and was from a rural part of Cork which meant he would need his car for work and his rehabilitation.

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said Coen’s mental health was a matter to be dealt with in mitigation, which the trial judge had done.

Ms Behan submitted that while the injuries were serious, “thankfully, they were not a lot more grave”. She said her client did not engage in any “prolonged period” of recklessness when driving the car on the day.

Ms Behan said there were other ways for the trial judge to assess whether or not Coen was fit to drive in that he could take a driving test and engage with rehabilitation services.

Ms Justice Kennedy said the trial judge was very careful in assessing the disqualification as a matter of “public protection” and took into account Coen’s rural address regarding gaining employment. She also noted that Coen had received a discount of 40 per cent off the headline sentence of five years.

Ms Behan said Coen had no previous convictions for road traffic offences and had a good work history with testimonials from his workplace.

Imelda Kelly BL, for the State, said several witnesses had observed Coen’s erratic driving in the two hours before the crash during which time a witness saw him “go to the pub for a pint”.

Ms Kelly said the injured woman suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder “and still does”. Counsel said the trial judge had considered imposing a lifetime disqualification for Coen but had settled “correctly” on 10 years. Ms Kelly said Coen had also refused to permit gardaí to take a blood sample on the day but allowed nurses to do so to attend to his own injuries.

In delivering judgment, Ms Justice Kennedy noted the father-of-one had a history of mental health issues and had been an inpatient in a facility four times. She also noted that Coen had alcohol issues. She said the woman had suffered “life-altering” injuries and that the family’s lives had been “radically altered”.

Ms Justice Kennedy said Coen had been observed by witnesses driving erratically on two separate occasions and that he had consumed alcohol before getting back into the car, which were aggravating factors in the case.

She said the trial judge did “not at all err” in his sentencing of Coen in light of the fact that the woman had to be airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.

However, Ms Justice Kennedy did say that despite Coen’s “outrageous” driving, she would reduce the ban of 10 years down to seven due to the “significant consequences” it would have for his family life and employment.

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