David Byrne jailed for dangerous driving causing death
This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.
David Byrne was sentenced to five years in prison for dangerous driving causing the death of Patricia Dunne. Judge Patricia Ryan passed sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 11 May 2018. The proceedings were reported on 11 May 2018.
Byrne pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Patricia Dunne, dishonestly inducing the National Driving Licence Service to issue him with a driving licence, and making a false or misleading statement while taking out insurance. A jury found him guilty of all three charges following a trial; the report said he was convicted in March 2018.
The dangerous driving offence occurred at Collins Avenue East, Killester, Dublin, on 16 October 2015. The licence charge related to 30 September 2014 and the insurance charge to 16 September 2015.
The court heard that Byrne had Type 2 Usher Syndrome, a degenerative eye disorder causing peripheral vision loss. Garda Pamela Dunne said he had claimed no condition affected his peripheral vision or ability to drive when applying for his licence and insurance. Defence counsel Michael O'Higgins said the prosecution had not produced evidence showing how the condition had progressed since Byrne’s diagnosis in 1997, and submitted that this was his only accident in 20 years of driving with the disease.
Judge Ryan set an eight-year headline sentence and reduced it to five years for mitigating circumstances. She cited Byrne’s co-operation, good record, remorse and psychological vulnerability, among other factors, and ordered appropriate treatment in prison for his medical condition. Byrne had no previous convictions.
The judge allowed Byrne to attend his son’s First Holy Communion before beginning his sentence. He undertook to present himself at Mountjoy Prison on Monday morning. Patricia Dunne’s son, John Dunne, said the family would never forgive Byrne. O'Higgins said Byrne wished to apologise to the family and that an offer to plead guilty to careless driving causing death had been rejected by the Director of Public Prosecutions.