A MECHANIC who fatally injured a student in a hit-and-run incident and later claimed someone else had been driving his car has been jailed for seven years and disqualified from driving for life.
Eric Doyle (44) had 39 previous road traffic convictions and had been disqualified from driving for four years just two months before the fatal incident as a result of which Trinity College student Lily Hastings-Bass (20) lost her life on November 26th, 2006.
Doyle, Whitechurch Avenue, Ballyboden, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the death of Ms Hastings-Bass on the Rathgar Road. He also pleaded guilty to driving without insurance or a driving licence and failing to stop on the same occasion.
Insp George McGeary told prosecuting counsel Vincent Heneghan that Doyle left the scene after hitting Ms Hastings-Bass but gardaí acting on information from an anonymous caller found his car had damage consistent with having struck a pedestrian at high speed. Insp McGeary said gardaí were later able to map Doyle’s movements on the night through his mobile phone, which he appeared to be using at the time of the incident.
He added Doyle had since accrued further convictions for drunk driving, driving without insurance and driving with excess speed during 2008 and 2009.
Ms Hastings-Bass, Berkshire, England, was studying English and history at Trinity College Dublin and had arrived in the country only two months before the incident. She suffered severe multiple traumas, fractures and serious brain injuries and died after 11 days on a life support machine.
Her family, who were not in court, outlined in a written victim impact report how they were “devastated” by her death and how Doyle’s “utter callousness” in failing to stop at the scene and attempting to blame another person had exacerbated their grief.
Doyle is currently serving a six-month sentence imposed in Arklow District Court on January 28th last for drunken driving, driving without insurance or a driving licence, and giving a false name under the road traffic Act at Ballynattin, Arklow on March 20th, 2008.
Judge Katherine Delahunt also disqualified Doyle from driving for life and said it was a tragic case in which a young girl had been killed when Doyle should not have even been on the road. “You showed complete disregard for the law and the penalties imposed on you,” she said.
Defence counsel Erwan Mill-Arden said Doyle wished him to convey his “personal remorse, shame and very deep regret over what had happened and his inability to deal with the matter”.
Insp McGeary said Ms Hastings-Bass was returning with friends to a student residence when the incident occurred. One of her friends told gardaí they were clearly visible as they crossed a straight stretch of road and the approaching Nissan Micra car did not swerve to avoid them. She said it was her opinion that the driver was not looking at the road ahead.