Courts / Dublin / Report

Man who left victim brain damaged after deliberately running him over warned about engaging with probation

Date
2023-02-27

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Tallaght

County
Dublin

Summary

In a February 2023 hearing, Mr. Gavin Guerrine, aged 31, was warned by Mr. Justice Paul McDermott that any further breaches of his probation could lead to the activation of a five‑year suspended sentence. Guerrine had previously been sentenced in 2011 to ten years, with the last five years suspended, for deliberately running over Christopher O'Rourke in 2009. O'Rourke, who was 17 at the time, suffered severe brain injury, fractures and a serious knee injury, and later died in 2010 from a drug overdose. Guerrine's failure to attend probation appointments, attributed to illness, was cited as a breach. The court emphasized the need for Guerrine to engage with probation services, provide required urinalysis, and participate in training and employment programs, or risk re‑activation of the suspended sentence.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Man who left victim brain damaged after deliberately running him over warned about engaging with probation. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

January 2011 Hearing Or Sentence
April 2009 Hearing Or Sentence
April 19, 2009 Hearing Or Sentence
August 2010 Hearing Or Sentence
February 2008 Hearing Or Sentence
June 2, 2024 Other
Christmas Other
2023-02-27 Publication

Why: At the sentencing hearing, a garda explained that Guerrine held a genuine belief that Christopher O'Rourke was involved in the death of his brother and that this belief was at the forefront of his mind when he knocked him down. CNI source report

Case subjects

Gavin Guerrine

Convicted Person

Outcome: In January 2011, Guerrine was sentenced to 10 years with the last five years suspended on certain conditions, after pleading guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Christopher O'Rourke in April 2009. The final five years of the ten-year sentence were suspended on condition Guerrine be of good behaviour for a decade and have no contact with the O'Rourke family.