A drunk driver had her two young children with her and an open bottle of wine on the passenger seat when she crashed her car into a cyclist, killing him, a court has heard.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford imposed a five-year prison term, suspending the final six months, on Saoirse Lillis McMahon (33) for dangerous driving causing the death of teacher Michael Lorigan (70) on August 16th, 2023, on the N67 at Baunmore, Kilkee, west Clare.
The judge also imposed a seven-year driving ban on Lillis McMahon, of Moveen East, Kilkee, who was driving under the influence of alcohol and had a “cocktail” of drugs in her system, including cocaine.
During the sentencing hearing, Lillis McMahon wept as the circumstances around the crash were laid out and during four victim impact statements read out to the court.
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Imposing sentence, Comerford said Lillis McMahon was driving the car “when she was completely unfit to drive and posed a real danger to anyone that she came across”.
The judge said Lillis McMahon posed “a very real danger” to her two boys, aged six and nine at the time, who were passengers in the car, due to the intoxicants she had taken.
Lorigan was coming toward the end of a 55-mile cycle and was just five miles away from meeting his wife, Dympna, in Kilkee, where the two planned to celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary.
In one of a number of victim impact statements read out in court, Dympna said she passed Michael in her car at 12.15pm on the day on her way to Kilkee. “That was the last time I saw him alive,” she said.
Ten minutes later, local gardaí received a call from a motorist about a car driving erratically on the N67, and dispatched a car to the area.
However, before they arrived, the same motorist phoned gardaí again to say she had just witnessed the same blue Vauxhall Astra car crash into a cyclist.
In evidence, Garda Noreen King told the court that Lillis McMahon’s car struck Lorigan from behind as the two headed towards Kilkee.
The garda said motorists had witnessed Lillis McMahon’s car swerving across the road before impact, adding that road conditions were good on the day and that Lillis McMahon struck Lorigan on a long straight stretch of road.
Counsel for the State, Sarah Jane Comerford, said a postmortem found that Lorigan, who spent his entire teaching career in The Modh Scoil in Limerick and lived in Kilkishen, Co Clare, died from blunt force injuries to the neck and head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
King said Lillis McMahon and her two children were all visibly upset at the scene. She said an open bottle of wine was observed on the front passenger seat of Lillis McMahon’s car.
Comerford said Lillis McMahon subsequently failed a test for alcohol, where she showed 93mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine – the legal limit is 67mg of alcohol.
At a Garda interview, Lillis McMahon expressed remorse.
She said: “I am sorry it happened – the night before wasn’t planned at all. I had my kids with me. It shouldn’t have happened. I think about his wife all the time.”
Senior counsel for Lillis McMahon, Lorcan Connolly, said Lillis McMahon has lost custody of her children, lost her job and lives in isolation from her community. He said she had a history of mental health difficulties.
Imposing sentence, Comerford said he had considered a headline 96-month prison term, but reduced it to 60 months due to Lillis McMahon’s early plea of guilty and remorse.
Comerford suspended the final six months on condition that Lillis McMahon co-operate with the Probation Service, after the service stated it can intervene with her problematic drink- and drug-taking.
Lillis McMahon wept as she was led out of the courtroom by prison officers to begin her sentence.
