A MAN who was over the alcohol limit and uninsured when his car crashed into railings killing a passenger has been jailed for three years. He was also banned from driving for five years.
Judge Cyril Kelly told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court he would not suspend the sentence because of Alan Whitty's acknowledged intelligence, the fact that he was driving with no insurance and that he had taken excess alcohol.
He was also taking into account that Whitty had driven at speed on a twisty" road and had no seating or constraints for his backseat passengers.
Whitty (26), a printer from Corbally Drive, Tallaght, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Ms Ann Marie Farrell (19) at St Mark's Community School, Fortunestown Lane, on January 26th, 1996.
Mr Erwan Mill Arden SC, defending, asked for a noncustodial sentence. He said Whitty wished to convey his deepest remorse to the victim's family.
Garda Stuart Gleeson told Mr Brendan Grehan, prosecuting, he arrived at the accident at 3.30a.m. when Whitty and his frontseat passenger were being cut from the wreckage.
Four people, including Ms Farrell, had been sitting on the floor in the back of the vehicle. She was pronounced dead on arrival in hospital.
Garda Gleeson said an alcohol test on a sample Whitty provided gave a reading of 151 to 100mg of blood.