The Court of Appeal has replaced a lifetime driving disqualification imposed on Brian Kelly after a fatal road crash with a 20-year ban dating from his original sentence in December 2009. It also re-imposed a two-year prison term, suspended for two years on the original terms and conditions.
The court allowed an appeal against the severity of sentence, finding that the sentencing judge had erred in imposing a lifetime disqualification. It said such bans are appropriate only in exceptional cases, usually involving repeat offending, and that disqualification should reflect a person’s unfitness to drive rather than serve as punishment. The judgment said Kelly had no previous road traffic convictions.
The case concerned the death of Claire Hennessy, 24, on 18 October 2008. The judgment said Kelly had been drinking at home before friends, including Hennessy, arrived. He later volunteered to drive her to a service station for cigarettes. On the return journey, his vehicle crossed to the wrong side of a road on a left bend, mounted the footpath, travelled over a mound and struck an apartment building’s outer wall. Hennessy died at the scene.
A forensic collision report recorded that the road was wet after a mist shower and estimated the car’s minimum speed at 71.22km/h before it became airborne. It attributed the fatal incident solely to speed and alcohol. A blood sample showed an alcohol concentration of 172 milligrams per 100 millilitres. Kelly was seriously injured and told gardaí he had been drinking, but could not recall driving at or immediately before the collision.
Kelly pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death at an early stage, on 6 October 2009. He was sentenced on 15 December that year to two years’ imprisonment, fully suspended for two years, and disqualified from driving for life. The appeal court had granted an extension of time to appeal in May 2024 after a difficulty arose with a planned licence restoration application.
In re-sentencing, the Court of Appeal described the offending as very serious and said a prison sentence would have been all but inevitable if imposed nearer the time. But, given the nearly 16 years since the incident and more than 14 years since the original sentence, it said imposing imprisonment now would be unjust. The court ordered the 20-year disqualification to run from the original sentence date.