The Court of Appeal has ordered Adrian Nestor to serve two years in prison for dangerous driving causing death and serious injury, after finding that the Circuit Court erred by suspending his entire four-year sentence.
The appeal was brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions against the sentence imposed on 18 January 2018. In a judgment delivered on 31 July 2018, the Court of Appeal held that the prosecution had not shown error in the trial judge’s six-year starting point or in reducing that sentence to four years for mitigating factors. It found the error was suspending the balance of the four-year term.
The case arose from a collision in the early hours of 1 February 2016 on a public road near Gort, County Galway. The judgment says Nestor had a blood alcohol level of 272mg per 100ml of blood. He drove onto the hard margin, killing Liam McDonald and injuring two Garda members who were assisting him. The judgment records that the Garda car’s headlights were dipped and its flashing lights were on.
The court reviewed the serious, ongoing injuries suffered by both Garda members, as well as the impact of McDonald’s death on his widow and daughters. His widow sought clemency for Nestor. The court also considered Nestor’s guilty plea, remorse, assistance at the scene, full admissions, good character, loss of employment, mental health difficulties and favourable probation report.
The appeal court concluded that, after the reduction from six to four years, a shorter period of suspension should have been considered. It ordered that the final two years of the four-year sentence be suspended for two years, on condition that Nestor keep the peace, be of good behaviour and abstain from alcohol during that period. The judgment therefore left two years of the sentence to be served in custody.