Garda who left the scene of fatal crash he caused is spared jail

An off-duty garda who left the scene after causing a road crash which claimed the life of a 51-year-old woman in Co Meath four years ago was spared jail at Trim Circuit Court on Tuesday.

Patrick McDonnell (40), with an address at Corofin, Co Galway, pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving on February 13th, 2016, on the M4 motorway at Rossan, Kinnegad, thereby causing the death of Jacqueline Wolohan.

Prosecuting counsel Carl Hanahoe BL told the court that McDonnell was over the speed limit when his Opel Astra rear-ended a Nissan Micra driven by Ms Wolohan on a straight stretch of the motorway at approximately 1.14 am on that date.

The Micra was propelled into a grass verge due to the force of the incident.

Ms Wolohan, who had been travelling home to Dublin with her teenage son, one of his friends and a terminally ill cousin, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sovin Govinder, an inspector from the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, told the court another motorist informed gardaí that McDonnell was “doing close to 140km/h when he flew past her [the other motorist] before the crash”, while another driver who had been overtaken said he saw McDonnell swerving for a time in the centre of the carriageway before he came on the collision.

The victim had been travelling at 70-75km/h, the court heard.

The prosecutor told Judge Terence O’Sullivan that McDonnell was not at the scene when gardaí arrived, and in spite of a search involving a heat-seeking device he could not be located, nor was there any response from his mobile phone. Six hours later McDonnell admitted he was involved in the collision.

The court heard a Garda investigation found both cars had been in good working order and concluded the collision was due to driver error.

Victim impact statement

A victim impact statement prepared by Ms Wolohan’s daughter Alison on behalf of her family described the victim as a “kind, caring, loving person who would help anyone in need”.

“We are a close-knit family and have had no real family celebration since the crash,” the statement said.

The statement added that the family had received no acknowledgement from McDonnell for what happened.

Defence barrister Paul Greene SC told the court his client had come off duty at 1am the day before the crash, and had then slept for a few hours before driving to Roscommon to visit his ex-wife to get their children ready for school.

McDonnell then returned to Galway before leaving at 11pm for Dublin to see his partner for Valentine’s Day.

The barrister said McDonnell had very little recollection of the crash in spite of undergoing regression therapy to try to recall the night. He said his client had later been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mr Greene added that McDonnell had now written a letter of apology for the bereaved family.

Mr Justice O’Sullivan imposed a suspended sentence of two years with a four-year driving ban.