A Dublin woman who was almost three times over the legal drink-driving limit when she knocked down a mother-of-two leaving her with a brain injury has been jailed for three years.
Jayne Kearney (26) told gardaí she had intended to stay at City West Hotel that night rather than drive her Ford Focus home, but she had a row with her boyfriend.
She drove off after she hit Blathnaid Molloy, who was walking towards the hotel entrance to get a taxi home.
Kearney, of Foxborough Downs, Lucan, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm and driving while intoxicated at City West on March 8th, 2014.
Wedding anniversary
Ms Molloy’s husband was in front of her that night, while her friend was walking behind her. The couple had been out celebrating their wedding anniversary at a fundraising event for the local GAA Club.
Kearney, who does not know the couple, had been at the same event.
She has eight previous road traffic convictions, including for having no insurance, no tax, exceeding the speed limit and having no rear seat belt for a passenger.
Ms Molloy, who has no recollection of the incident, was left with a fractured skull and slight bleeding on the brain. She has a speech and hearing impairment as a result and suffers from dizzy spells.
Victim impact report
She outlined in her victim impact report that on her return home from hospital, for the first few months, the room would spin and the best place for her was lying on her side without moving her head.
Ms Molloy said she missed her eldest son’s first day of school because she vomited every time she tried to move. She was not able to care for her youngest child, who was 11 months old at the time of the incident, and said it had taken some time for her to re-establish their bond.
Ms Molloy said her husband did not go into the details of the incident with her and every time they began to speak of it, he started to cry, which she said broke her heart.
She said she understood “how close I was to the end” so she was happy “I am still here”.
‘Horrendous effects’
Judge Martin Nolan noted the “horrendous” effects of the incident on Ms Molloy and said aggravating factors in the case were that Kearney was over the limit and left the scene.
He took into account Kearney’s expression of remorse, full co-operation with gardaí and guilty pleas.
Imposing a three-year sentence and disqualifying her from driving for three years, Judge Nolan commented that he thought Kearney was a “genuinely good person” but that this was a “very, very serious fall from grace”.