A woman has pleaded with a judge not to jail her husband over the deaths of their three-year-old son and her husband’s parents in a car crash when the accused had been disqualified from driving and more than four times over the legal drink driving limit.
In her victim impact statement, Diane Harty (25) asked Judge Deirdre Browne not to send Thomas O’Reilly (25) to prison, saying the family had suffered enough already through the loss of their boy, Tom, and her parents in-law Thomas snr (44) and Bridget O’Reilly (45).
Harty told the court that both she and her husband were struggling to cope with the enormity of the tragedy, which happened near their home in Cashel, Co Tipperary.
“Your honour, I am begging you, please don’t take the rest of my family away from me. I need him – he’s all I’ve left in this miserable, lonesome world,” said Harty at the sentencing hearing for her husband who admitted three offences arising out of the fatal crash on August 29th, 2023.
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O’Reilly had already pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of Tom, Thomas snr and Bridget O’Reilly. On Friday at Clonmel Circuit Criminal Court he also pleaded to driving without insurance and drink driving at Kingstown, Cashel, Co Tipperary, on the day in question.
Garda Sgt Donal Keogh told the court that the O’Reillys were returning from swimming at Longfields, Cashel, at 8.50pm on the date of the crash. He said the car hit a concrete pier. He said emergency services arrived to discover O’Reilly and Harty sitting away from the car with their young son, while O’Reilly’s parents were still in the car.
Thomas snr, Bridget and Tom O’Reilly were pronounced dead at the scene, while O’Reilly and Harty were taken by ambulance to Tipperary University Hospital where O‘Reilly spent several weeks recovering from injuries.
None of the five occupants of the car had been wearing a seat belt.
Forensic crash investigator Sgt Mark O’Connor said Harty had volunteered at the scene that she had been driving the car and O’Reilly denied that he was driving.
However, the injuries O’Reilly suffered in the collision were found to be more consistent with him being the driver than a passenger in the car, which sustained substantial damage on its right side, and O’Reilly then agreed he was the driver.
Keogh said a blood sample was taken from O’Reilly at Tipperary University Hospital and he was found to have a blood alcohol concentration of 204mgs of alcohol per 100mls of blood – more than four times the legal limit of 50mgs per 100mls. He was also disqualified from driving at the time.
Defence counsel Dermot Cahill pleaded for leniency, pointing to the fact that his client had made admissions and pleaded guilty at a relatively early stage.
He also pointed out that O’Reilly had lost both his son and his parents as well as suffering serious injuries to his liver, lung, ribs and head in the crash.
The judge noted a medical report where a consultant gastroenterologist said O’Reilly was at risk of liver failure and death if he did not address an alcohol addiction. She adjourned the case until July 20th to afford him a chance to get treatment for his addiction before sentencing.
