A DISQUALIFIED driver who killed a pedestrian in a hit-and-run while high on drugs was jailed for seven years with the final six months of his sentence suspended and given a 15-year road ban.
Danny Connors (30), Clondrinagh Halting Site, Limerick, ran a red light and ploughed into the victim, James Forde (56), who was walking across a pedestrian crossing on the Ennis Road in Limerick City on November 26, 2024.
Mr Connors, who was banned from driving at the time, left the scene without checking on Mr Forde’s condition or waiting for emergency services.
Aine Forde, a sister of the deceased, told Connors at his sentencing hearing at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court: “You left my brother to die like a dog in the road.”
Connors pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving causing death; two counts of dangerous driving; driving without insurance; driving without a licence; failing to offer assistance at the scene; and failing to remain at the scene intending to escape civil or criminal inability.
Connors had 120 previous convictions at the time and had consumed cannabis before getting into his car and knocking down Mr Forde, the court heard.
Before the fatal hit and run, Connors had also broken a stop sign and drove on the wrong side of the road, forcing other motorists to take evasive action to avoid him.
Mr Forde was halfway across the pedestrian crossing when Connors car slammed into him.
Prosecuting barrister John O’Sullivan told the court: “Mr Forde was struck violently, he went airborne in a cartwheel, and Mr Connors fled the scene at speed, he neither stopped or offered assistance.”
The barrister added that another motorist travelling directly behind Connors told Gardaí that Connors “didn’t break until he was on top of the pedestrian”.
Ms Forde said that her late brother was raised “to respect the law” by their late father Joe, who had been a Garda.
“We miss his happy presence, it is hard to speak publicly about the seismic impact of his death on us – we suffer every day,” she said.
Mr Nicholas asked Judge Colin Daly to take into consideration that Connors had come before him for sentence on a signed guilty plea early in the case, saving the need for a trial.
The barrister argued that Connors left the scene because he “panicked”.
In addition to Connors’ immediate custodial sentence, Judge Daly imposed a concurrent six-year sentence for failing to offer Mr Forde assistance and a concurrent four-month sentence for driving without insurance or a licence, and dangers driving. The sentences were backdated to November 28, 2024, when Connors was first taken into custody.