The Court of Appeal has replaced a 12-year sentence imposed on John O’Driscoll for a dangerous driving episode in Cork with a sentence of six years and nine months, suspending the final 12 months subject to conditions.
The court allowed the appeal against sentence after finding that the sentencing judge had not held a Newton hearing to resolve a significant dispute over whether O’Driscoll intentionally drove at Garda Michael Twomey or struck him recklessly while trying to evade arrest. O’Driscoll’s guilty plea and unchallenged evidence were based on recklessness. The appeal court said the disputed issue had to be resolved in his favour in the absence of a hearing.
The offences occurred during a pursuit in Cork on the morning of 18 April 2014. The judgment says O’Driscoll drove on the wrong side of roads, collided with several vehicles and struck Twomey, who was stationary on a garda motorcycle. Twomey suffered broken ribs, lacerations and internal bruising. O’Driscoll was later found to have a blood alcohol level of 244mg per 100ml of blood.
The original sentence included five concurrent five-year terms for criminal damage, five concurrent 12-month terms for dangerous driving, and a seven-year term for endangerment consecutive to the criminal damage sentences. The sentencing judge initially proposed suspending the final two years but removed that element after interpreting O’Driscoll’s response when asked to enter a bond as a refusal. The appeal court found that the suspended element had been removed in error.
The Court of Appeal said the endangerment offence remained serious and justified a consecutive sentence. It set an overall headline sentence of nine years, reduced to six years and nine months in light of guilty pleas and cooperation with gardaí after arrest. It structured the sentence as concurrent terms of two years and nine months for the other offences, with a five-year term for reckless endangerment to run consecutively. The final 12 months were suspended on condition that O’Driscoll keep the peace and be of good behaviour for 12 months after release, and be supervised by the Probation Service during that period. The court also imposed a 35-year driving disqualification.