THE DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is to appeal a sentence handed down for dangerous driving causing the death of University of Limerick journalism student Joe Drennan.
A date for the appeal hearing, on grounds that it was unduly lenient, is to take place at the Court of Criminal Appeal on November 6.
The DPP announced in February that it would appeal the sentence, following a campaign led by Mr Drennan’s family.
Last January, Kieran Fogarty, of Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, was sentenced at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to six and half years after he pleaded guilty to charges in respect of Mr Drennan’s death by dangerous driving.
Mr Drennan had been standing at a bus stop when Mr Fogarty, whom he did not know, lost control of a BMW car and ploughed into the 21-year old student.
Speaking afterwards outside the court, Mr Drennan’s family said they were “disgusted” by the sentence, which was imposed concurrent to an eight-year sentence on Fogarty for an entirely separate incident in which he fired shots at a house in a drive-by shooting.
The concurrent sentencing terms meant Fogarty would serve only his eight-year sentence – the longer of the two sentences.
Speaking inside the court, Tim Drennan, father of the late Joe Drennan, asked sentencing Judge Colin Daly: “Does that mean that this fella will not serve a day for killing my son?”
Tim and Marguerite Drennan said they were “disgusted” that Fogarty “would not serve anything” for Joe’s death.
Holding a picture of their son outside the court, Tim Drennan said Fogarty had left his son to “die like a dog on the street”, adding that he felt angry that Fogarty had got away without punishment for “killing my son”.
The grieving parents said they ultimately hope Fogarty would serve a sentence in its own in respect of their son’s death, in addition to the shooting sentence.
Fogarty was on bail at the time of the fatal crash, he was also disqualified from driving, and wanted by Gardaí on five outstanding arrest warrants.
Moments before ploughing into the bus stop where Joe Drennan was standing, Fogarty filmed himself on a mobile phone driving at high speed and streamed it to friends on social media.
He laughed and jeered at Gardaí as he outpaced a patrol car.
Moments before Fogarty collided with Mr Drennan, he was traveling at 122km/h in a 50km/h zone.
Fogarty broke a red light, stuck another car, lost control of his BMW, and slammed into Joe Drennan at Dublin Road, Castletroy, Limerick.
After Fogarty smashed his car into the bus stop killing Mr Drennan, he wiped down the BMW’s steering wheel in an attempt to remove his forensic trace from the scene.
Believing he had killed two people at the bus stop, Fogarty messaged an associate, telling him: “I’m after killing a 21-year-old and a woman.”
He told another associate in a voice message, that was played in court: “I don’t know how I was able to walk out of that son, watch how bad the Beamer is in that, boy it’s wrapped around the pole and all.”
“I spun about 10 times I’d say, I bounced off a wall and took that young fella with me at the bus stop cause his bus wasn’t there in time.”
Fogarty, who had 46 previous convictions, including 41 for road traffic offences including dangerous driving, pleaded guilty to all of the offences against him.
The Drennan family, supported by his friends and fellow journalism students, rallied together after the sentence and campaigned for the DPP to appeal Fogarty’s sentence.
Speaking last February after the DPP lodged its appeal, Marguerite Drennan said that regardless of the outcome, her family would press ahead with an online petition calling on the government “to amend the current sentencing laws to ensure that multiple sentences for serious crimes, particularly those involving loss of life, are served consecutively rather than concurrently”.
The petition has so far garnered almost 15,000 signatures.
“It won’t bring Joe back, but it will help other families,” Ms Drennan said.