Anthony Handley has sentence suspended for dangerous driving

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Anthony Handley was re-sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by the Court of Appeal on 17 February 2017, with the unserved portion suspended for one year on condition that he enter into a €100 bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

The judgment, delivered by Mr. Justice Mahon, allowed his appeal against sentence severity after finding errors of principle. These included unfairly penalising his delay in pleading guilty and giving insufficient weight to mitigating factors, particularly his role as his wife’s main carer.

Handley pleaded guilty and was convicted at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 5 April 2016 of dangerous driving causing death or serious bodily harm. On 10 May 2016, he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment from that date and disqualified from driving for ten years.

The judgment recorded that Olivia Dunne was killed instantly and her infant daughter, Éabha, was significantly injured when Handley lost control of his car and swerved across the Dublin Road towards Balbriggan shortly after midday on 17 January 2014.