Court archive
Court reports mentioning Robertstown, Kildare
2020-09-17 · Kildare
Paul Connolly, 38, of Cregg Court, Kilmeague, Robertstown, Co Kildare, dropped his appeal against an eight‑and‑a‑half‑year prison sentence imposed by the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in May 2019. Connolly had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to Michael Igoe, 54, and Francis Dhala, 19, after driving onto a busy footpath while under the influence of drugs on Coolmine Road on 1 May 2018. The incident left Dhala, a law student, with a catastrophic brain injury. Connolly was driving his young child to school at the time and had a 25‑year driving ban and had been released from prison a month earlier. He also pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of drugs, possession of cannabis, failing to remain at the scene, failing to offer assistance, failing to alert Gardaí, and driving without insurance or a licence. The judge, Melanie Greally, imposed the sentence but suspended the final 18 months.
2019-05-03 · Kildare
Paul Connolly, 37, of Cregg Court, Kilmeague, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for dangerous driving that caused serious bodily harm to Michael Igoe (54) and Francis Dhala (19) on Coolmine Road, Coolmine, on 1 May 2018. Connolly, who was under the influence of cocaine and tablets the night before, drove his young child to school, mounted the footpath, hit Igoe and then Dhala, and left the scene calmly with a smashed windscreen. He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving under the influence of drugs, possession of cannabis, failing to remain at the scene, failing to offer assistance, failing to alert Gardaí, and driving without insurance or a licence. Judge Melanie Greally suspended the final 18 months of the sentence, citing Connolly's guilty plea, remorse, limited cooperation and long‑standing addiction issues. The sentence was back‑dated to 1 May 2018.
2019-04-05 · Kildare
Paul Connolly, 37, with 14 dangerous‑driving convictions and 3 hit‑and‑run convictions, drove under the influence of cocaine and benzodiazepine on Coolmine Road on 1 May 2018. While driving his child to school, he mounted a footpath, first striking Michael Igoe, 54, and then student Francis Dhala, 19. Igoe suffered a fractured ankle, bruising, torn shoulder muscles and a concussion; Dhala sustained a severe head injury, requiring multiple surgeries and a prolonged hospital stay. Connolly left the scene calmly, later claiming he thought he had hit a bush. He was intercepted by a driving instructor and Gardaí, admitted to drug use, and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm, driving under the influence, possession of cannabis, failing to remain at the scene, failing to offer assistance, failing to alert Gardaí, and driving without insurance or a licence.