David Byrne sentenced to five years, with custody delayed for son's Communion

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

Judge Patricia Ryan sentenced David Byrne to five years in prison for dangerous driving causing the death of Patricia Dunne, but allowed him to attend his son’s First Holy Communion before starting the sentence. The proceedings were reported on 11 May 2018.

Byrne, a postman from Kilcullen, Co Kildare, undertook to present himself at Mountjoy Prison on Monday morning. He had been convicted in March following a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

He had pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Dunne, 70, and to dishonestly inducing the National Driving Licence Service to issue him with a driving licence. He had also denied making a false or misleading statement while taking out insurance. A jury found him guilty of all three charges.

Dunne was struck on Collins Avenue East, Killester, Dublin, on 16 October 2015. The licence offence was dated 30 September 2014 and the insurance offence 16 September 2015. Garda Pamela Dunne told the court that Byrne gave consent to access his medical records and told gardaí he could not recall being advised not to drive in 1997.

The court heard that Byrne has Usher Syndrome type two, a degenerative eye disorder causing loss of peripheral vision. Judge Ryan said it was an aggravating factor that he drove with the condition and knew it was wrong. She reduced an eight-year headline sentence to five years in light of mitigating factors, including his co-operation, good record and remorse, and ordered appropriate treatment for his medical condition in prison.