A DRIVER lodged an appeal against a three-month jail sentence after he drove onto a footpath, struck a 16-year-old boy, and left the scene without checking on the child.
Paul Dady (40), a native of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, with an address at Sixmilebridge, County Clare, appeared before Limerick District Court on signed guilty pleas to four charges.
Mr Dady admitted one count of dangerous driving as well as three counts of hit-and-run, including colliding with the boy, leaving the scene, and failing to report the collision.
After reading victim impact statements written by the boy and members of his family, sentencing judge Patricia Harney said: “God almighty.”
Sergeant Aisling O’Neill, of Roxboro Road Garda Station, gave evidence that on November 10, 2024, the boy and his young brother were walking along a footpath in Ardnacrusha, County Clare, when a blue Nissan Tidda, registered to Mr Dady, “came around a bend and lost control on a soft verge”.
“The vehicle then crossed both carriageways and mounted a footpath on the opposite side of the road where the injured party and his brother were walking,” said Sergeant O’Neill.
“The injured party was struck by the vehicle, causing him to fall to the ground and he sustained injuries to his right leg.”
“The injured party and his brother said that the driver didn’t get out of his vehicle to speak to them. The driver was approached by the injured party’s brother and the driver then drove off without offering any assistance or his details.”
The younger brother took a photograph of Mr Dady’s car as it left the scene, added Sergeant O’Neill.
The injured boy was taken by ambulance from the scene to University Hospital Limerick and released the following day. However he had to be readmitted to hospital for further tests as the injury to his leg worsened and he had “no use of it from the knee down”.
The boy remained in hospital for 13 nights upon readmission.
Mr Dady, who was working in a maintenance job in Clare, had no previous convictions, his solicitor John Herbert told the court.
After reading the victim impact statements, Judge Harney put it to Mr Herbert that Dady “left a child lying on the ground and drove away”.
Mr Herbert said his instructions were that Dady had made a wrong turn and “went off” the road into a “soft margin”, and that he had “revved” the car to “spin it around” to get it back onto the road.
“Mr Dady said he never realised that he hit (the boy), he heard a bang and he clipped the kerb and he just wasn’t aware there was another person,” said Mr Herbert.
Judge Harney said Dady’s explanation “defies any kind of belief at all”.
“He behaved appallingly and this child was left on the side of the road. I quite simply do not believe your client that he did not know that he struck this young man,” the judge told the solicitor.
Mr Herbert said Dady was approached by Gardaí three days after the collision and later on, by appointment, went to a Limerick Garda station to be interviewed, under caution, “accepted that he was responsible” for the boy’s injuries.
Mr Herbert said Dady was extremely sorry for all of the distress caused to the boy and his family, and that he accepted the boy was “put through a huge ordeal”.
Judge Harney said she regarded Dady as being “very fortunate that this case is being dealt with in the district court” and not a higher court, where Dady would have faced the possibility of a tougher sentence.
Convicting Dady of dangerous driving, the judge imposed a mandatory two-year road ban and a €500 fine with four months to pay.
The judge imposed a three-month jail sentence in respect of Dady failing to remain at the scene of the collision. The judge took into consideration Dady failing to stop at the scene and failing to report the collision.
Dady immediately lodged a full appeal, which was allowed by the court, on his own bond of €100.
As part of his bail terms while awaiting his appeal hearing, Dady was ordered not to drive any type of MPV.
– Court Reporting Scheme