The Court of Appeal has replaced a 12-month prison sentence imposed on Donegal teacher Declan O’Donnell for careless driving causing the death of Michelle McCabe with a non-custodial sentence involving 200 hours of service at Ballydowd.
The fatal collision occurred on 25 January 2013, when O’Donnell was driving from Dublin, where he was teaching, towards his home in Donegal on a wet and dark Friday evening. His car collided with the vehicle in which McCabe was travelling with her mother and her two children, aged eight and six.
McCabe was 34 and was also survived by her husband, Seamus.
O’Donnell was initially charged with dangerous driving causing death but pleaded guilty to careless driving causing death, which the prosecution accepted. He had no memory of the collision and could not explain what had happened.
The sentencing judge found no aggravating features in the driving. There was no evidence of speeding, drink-driving, use of a defective vehicle or similar misconduct. A couple travelling behind O’Donnell had not criticised his driving before seeing his brake lights come on and the rear of his car swerve.
The Circuit Court nevertheless imposed 12 months’ imprisonment on 16 June 2015. The Court of Appeal concluded that the judge appeared to have been heavily influenced by the devastating consequences of the collision rather than the culpability involved in the driving itself.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the case was capable of being dealt with without imprisonment and that this would have been the appropriate approach. The court also took account of the period O’Donnell had already spent in custody since sentence.
It therefore set aside the custodial disposition and proposed suspending the balance of the sentence on a bond requiring O’Donnell to provide the equivalent of 200 hours’ community service at Ballydowd within 12 months.