Woman (22) spared jail for fatally injuring man after driving through red light

A woman who drove through a red light and fatally injured a pedestrian who she knocked down has received a fully suspended sentence.

Lawyers for Letitia Barry (22) told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that there were unusual features to the pedestrian crossing at Whitestown Road, Rush, Co Dublin where the incident happened on June 7th, 2019. These made the position of the victim somewhat invisible to a driver at a certain point.

The court heard that local man John Byrne had used the crossing many times before and always waited for the pedestrian green light.

A forensic analysis of the lights sequencing indicated that there was a gap of six seconds between the vehicular lights going red and the pedestrian light going green.

After Barry’s car hit him, Mr Byrne was flipped in to the air and his head hit the kerb. He was brought to hospital but died as a result of the head injuries sustained.

Barry stayed at the scene after the collision and she and other members of the public tried to provide some comfort to Mr Byrne with blankets.

In her statement to gardaí, Barry said she was approaching the junction when her friend who was the front seat passenger shouted “he is going to run”. She said she slammed on the brakes and the car swerved.

Within speed limit

She said she did not remember if the light was green or red or how fast she was going. Analysis of the tyre brake marks on the road indicated she was driving within the speed limit of 50km/h.

Witnesses told gardaí­that the traffic lights were red for drivers when Mr Byrne “took off in a run from the footpath”. One woman said she saw Mr Byrne’s foot go out onto the road and the car hitting him with a thud.

Collision investigators found that the car was in good working order, but that the swerving tyre marks were consistent with the brakes locking up. They found the ABS dashboard light indicated a fault, but could not say if this was showing before the collision.

A Garda report noted that the location of “street furniture” such as lamp standards and the traffic lights had a tendency to obscure pedestrians from drivers at the point Mr Byrne had been standing. The report stated the layout was not in accordance with the relative manual for the ideal placement of street furniture.

Barry, of Rivermeade Park, St Margarets, Dublin, pleaded guilty to driving a car without due care and attention, thereby causing the death of Mr Byrne.

Sgt Derek Dalton accepted a submission from defence counsel Conor Devally SC that if Barry had seen a red light she would not have run it. Counsel said his client was a “relatively inexperienced” driver, having received her full licence three months earlier.

Lives changed

A relative of Mr Byrne told the court that death of their “son, brother and uncle” has irrevocably changed the lives of his family. She said that Mr Byrne was a gentle, kind and very sociable man who had many friends in the area and a wide range of interests including GAA.

She said the family continues to receive letters of gratitude from families who benefited from the organs donated by Mr Byrne on his death.

Mr Devally told the court that his client has had great difficulty in coping with the results of her actions.

“At all times she intended to fulfil her duties as a driver. She failed in this instance,” he said.

Passing sentence on Wednesday, Judge Melanie Greally said that Mr Byrne was in no way responsible for the accident and that he had acted exactly as one should at a pedestrian crossing.

Nine second lapse

The judge said the principle fault factor was the failure by the accused to be alert to the pedestrian crossing and that the light was red. She said the lapse was more than a split second, that it lasted nine seconds from when the amber light illuminated.

She said the mitigating factors included Barry’s plea of guilty, her co-operation, her lack of previous convictions and her youth. She said she took into account that Barry will “forever bear the heavy burden of having caused the death of another”.

Judge Greally sentenced Barry to eight months imprisonment, but suspended the sentence in its entirety on strict conditions. She said she did so due to the combination of the lack of aggravating factors and the number of mitigating factors, in particular Barry being the mother of a young child.

The judge also disqualified Barry from driving for six years.