A driver who caused a head-on collision near Portarlington that killed four-year-old Ciaran Tracey and seriously injured his mother has been sentenced to seven years and six months in prison and banned from driving for 20 years.
The accused pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death or serious bodily harm and to drink-driving arising from the collision at Ballymorris on April 17, 2014.
The court heard that he had spent the afternoon and evening drinking in three Portarlington pubs with a friend, consuming about nine to ten pints of cider. He then drove towards Portlaoise.
At about 8.30pm, his Toyota Avensis crossed a continuous white line near a bend while travelling at approximately 86km/h and struck a Ford Mondeo driven by Gillian Tracey. Her sons, Ciaran, aged four, and Sean, aged seven, were in the rear seats.
Ciaran suffered fatal injuries. Mrs Tracey sustained multiple fractures and other serious injuries and had undergone 10 surgical procedures by the time of sentencing.
Judge Keenan Johnson found several aggravating features. The accused had a urine-alcohol reading of 200mg per 100ml, drove onto the wrong side of the road without braking, and walked away after the collision before Gardaí arrested him about 14 minutes later. The judge also found that he initially misled Gardaí by claiming he had consumed only two glasses of wine.
Mitigation included his guilty plea, previous clean record, initial admission that he was driving, employment history, remorse, participation in Alcoholics Anonymous and a probation assessment placing him at low risk of reoffending.
The judge fixed a nine-year headline sentence before mitigation and reduced it to seven years and six months. The term was backdated to when the accused entered custody the previous week.
The separate drink-driving charge was marked proved and taken into consideration.