A Ukrainian woman who fled her home following the Russian invasion has been jailed for 15 months after she admitted knocking down a fellow Ukrainian refugee just moments after they had parted company following a night out.
Kseniia Vasylenko (43), with an address at Cork Airport Hotel, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to careless driving causing the death of Andrii Nesterov (49) at Cork Airport, Lehanaghmore, Cork on October 8th last.
Judge Helen Boyle commended gardaí who quickly established that Mr Nesterov did not suffer a cardiac arrest as Vaselynko first reported, but that she had got into his car while intoxicated and reversed it when he was standing behind it, hitting him and causing his death.
The judge said an aggravating factor was the fact that the defendant was intoxicated, which put the careless driving causing death conviction at the higher end of the scale, which carries a maximum sentence of two years.
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“You also fled war in Ukraine. Your husband is restoring electricity to war-torn areas. You are doing well in prison. You are working and attending educational unit and acting as interpreter for a number of inmates (but) because of the aggravating factor of alcohol this offence is at the highest end.”
Judge Boyle sentenced Vaselynko to two years in jail but suspended the last nine months. She backdated the sentence to October 9th last when the defendant first went into custody. She also disqualified Vaselynko from driving for eight years.
Det Garda Gary Brennan, of Togher Garda station, told the court last week that gardaí were alerted by staff at the Cork Airport Hotel at around 2.20am on October 8th, 2023 who said they had received reports of a man suffering a cardiac arrest in the hotel car park.
Ambulance personnel arrived and found Mr Nestorov, a father of three, lying on the ground with injuries to his head and legs. He was rushed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Gardaí arrived at the scene and quickly established that Vasylenko had been present at the time, but she denied that she had been driving Mr Nestorov’s car, which was examined by a forensic crash investigator and found to have traces of his clothing on the bumper.
Gardaí recovered dash camera footage from the car which captured most of the incident in which Mr Nestorov was fatally injured. Det Garda Brennan said Vasylenko was later seen on the video leaving the car and was next picked up by CCTV in the lobby of the Cork Airport Hotel, where she had been staying in refugee accommodation. She alerted the staff that there has been an incident and requests that they call an ambulance.
Vasylenko went to her room where she was interviewed a short time later by gardaí. She was later arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Nesterov, who was also staying in the hotel.
During her first interview, Vasylenko denied that she was driving the car when it knocked Mr Nesterov down. She later said she had no recollection of the incident as she had been intoxicated after a night socialising with Mr Nesterov.
She was shown the dash cam footage from the car and said she was in shock after what happened and could not remember if she had been driving. She later accepted that she had been when Mr Nestorov was knocked down.
“I drove the car over him, but I didn’t realise I had driven over – I thought I had gone over the pavement,” said Vasylenko.
She expressed remorse over what happened to Mr Nesterov, who died from severe brain injuries along with blunt force trauma to the chest and haemothorax.
“I am really sorry – I am devastated. It is a burden on my heart and will be with me for the rest of my life. He was a very good man, when I get out, I want to apologise to the man’s wife and children,” she told gardaí.
Defence counsel Jane Hyland SC said her client was deeply remorseful and hugely ashamed.
“A considerable amount of drink had been consumed by my client on the night and she could not accept that she had driven over Mr Nesterov until she saw the dash cam footage,” said Ms Hyland, who noted that her client had no previous convictions of any kind.
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