Man jailed for eight years for fatal Cork hit and run

A motorist has been jailed for eight years for killing a man in a hit and run on a pedestrian crossing in Cork city centre.

Martin Linehan (36) from Lagan Grove in Mayfield pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Gabriel Lege (25) on George's Quay in Cork at around 9pm on October 31st, 2013.

He also admitted seven related motoring charges including failing to stop, dangerous driving and driving without insurance.

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin said it was unusual to consider not giving an accused person some discount for a guilty plea but such were the aggravating factors in the case, he seriously considered imposing the maximum 10-year term on Linehan despite his plea.

“He did not stop, he continued driving so the wheels, both front and rear rolled over the deceased as he had the green man on a pedestrian crossing. His passenger asked him to stop but he fled the scene,” said Judge Ó Donnabháin who noted Linehan was disqualified from driving at the time.

Det Garda Ann Flynn told how Linehan had lost his job as a courier some days before and on the day in question had consumed up to 16 pints of beer as well as cannabis and cocaine when he hit Mr Lege as he was crossing George’s Quay on a green light on a pedestrian crossing. Mr Lege, a French national who had moved to Ireland in 2008, died later in hospital.

The day after the incident, Linehan drove to Larne and took a ferry to Stranraer. Two years later, he was arrested in the UK. He then went to South Africa and from there tried to enter Dubai but was sent back to South Africa and later returned to London.

He was arrested there in May 2017 and extradited back to Ireland

Judge Ó Donnabháin said the only mitigating factor in Linehan’s favour was his guilty plea.

He sentenced Linehan, who had a number of previous convictions including one for a €1 million drugs seizure as well as four for no insurance, to eight years in prison and disqualified him from driving for 40 years.

Mr Lege was working with Apple in Cork and was planning to move first to Austin, Texas and then to Vietnam to set up his own business.

Victim’s mother

The court heard a victim impact statement from the mother of Mr Lege. Sylvie Lege said how she and her other son Maxime had to travel to Cork in November 2013 to collect her son’s body and then travel back to France.

She described his premature birth and childhood in Paris before recalling how he had come with his friend Remy to Ireland. “This island of heart offered you life, people trusted in you, they believed in you and you could realise some of your dreams,” she said.

“You found love, break-up and love again, friendship and so much more – you were passionate about music, you played piano, you played a lot of sport, you had an enormous amount of friends on continents . . . you were someone good.”

Ms Lege recalled that the last time she saw her son alive was in September 2013 when she drove him to Nantes Airport to catch a flight back to Cork where “unfortunately and tragically, all it took was a second for a man to take your life and everything crumbled.

“What can I tell you of my disarray, my pain, my unsustainable grief since Gabriel’s death. What do I tell you of these nights for the last four years, nights without sleep, crying, screaming ‘Gabriel , I want to see you, I want to see you’. Part of me is him and I am not nor will ever be the same.”