The Court of Appeal reduced Norma Kiely’s driving disqualification from four years to two after finding the Circuit Court had treated the ban as mandatory when it was a matter for judicial discretion.
Kiely had been charged with dangerous driving causing serious harm after a road traffic accident at Clonmore, Dromcollogher, County Limerick, on 11 April 2018. She pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of careless driving causing serious harm, contrary to section 52 of the Road Traffic Act 1961, as amended. The prosecution accepted the plea and the case proceeded on that basis.
The Circuit Court imposed a one-year prison sentence, suspended in its entirety, a €5,000 fine and a four-year driving disqualification. In imposing the ban, the judge proceeded on the basis that a four-year disqualification was mandatory following the plea, and that the only issue was whether special reasons justified dispensing with a requirement to resit a driving test.
Kiely appealed the severity of the sentence. At the appeal hearing, her counsel said the challenges to the suspended prison sentence and fine would not be pursued. The remaining issue was the driving disqualification.
The Court of Appeal said the Circuit Court had applied what appeared to be the established law at the time, but that the approach was later found to be an error of law: whether to disqualify a driver, and for how long, was for the judge to decide. The appeal court said the offence was significant and that carelessness and inattentiveness had caused grave consequences for the accident victim. It considered a driving ban appropriate, but said two years was the proper period.
The court substituted a two-year disqualification for the four-year ban. It said the ban would begin on the same day as the Circuit Court disqualification. Because the order was not mandatory, the requirement to resit a driving test subject to special circumstances did not arise.
The one-year prison sentence, suspended for one year, and the €5,000 fine remain in place. The court noted that the suspension period had already elapsed and ordered the unpaid fine to be paid within one month of 23 February 2023.