A DRIVER was “steaming drunk” when he drove his car into the path of a truck, killing the other driver, his trial heard.
Niall O’Halloran (57), of Woodfield Drive, Newcastle West, County Limerick, was remanded into custody after he was found guilty by a jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court of dangerous driving causing the death of father-of-two Arturs Birznieks.
The jury also found Mr O’Halloran guilty of driving while intoxicated after just over an hour deliberating.
What the jury were not told at the trial, for legal reasons, and which can now be revealed, was that O’Halloran had a previous conviction for drink driving at Rathkeale District Court in 2011, for which he was given a three-year road ban and fined €400.
O’Halloran’s trial heard he was probably six times over the legal limit when he drove into the path of Mr Birznieks’ truck at N69, Reens East, Ardagh, County Limerick, at 2.50am on March 18, 2022.
A blood sample taken from O’Halloran in hospital four hours after the fatal collision returned a certified reading of 179mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, indicating he was at that stage still more than three times the legal limit.
Gardaí told the court Mr Birznieks had “no chance” of survival.
O’Halloran’s car was sheered in half in the initial collision, and he likely survived as he was wearing a seat-belt, the court heard.
O’Halloran claimed in Garda interviews that Mr Birznieks’ truck veered into his path prior to the collision. He claimed he flashed his car lights at the truck but it did not change its trajectory.
After the verdicts were read out, O’Halloran shook his head in disagreement.
Judge Simon McAleese told O’Halloran that “your driving and your drinking killed a man”.
“Putting it politely, you seem to be in denial about your wrongdoing, your appalling, egregious, dreadful behaviour.”
Judge McAleese passed on his sympathies to Mr Birznieks’ family, saying they had lost a loved one to O’Halloran’s “drink fuelled dangerous driving”.
“Mr O’Halloran’s conduct is utterly inexcusable and deplorable, and if ever there was a case worthy of a remand in custody, this is such a case.”
The trial heard O’Halloran was vague in his recollection of how much alcohol he had consumed prior to the crash, and told Gardaí he believed he may have had consumed one or two beer shandies in the day leading up to the fatal collision.
In her closing speech to the jury, prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley, instructed by state solicitor Brendan Gill, said O’Halloran had been “steaming drunk” and “couldn’t see straight” at the time.
Ms Buckley said emergency services workers who attended at the scene said they smelled alcohol on O’Halloran and that his speech was slurred.
O’Halloran told investigating Gardaí following his arrest that he did not consider a beer shandy to be an alcohol drink, the court heard. He also told Gardaí the result of his alcohol blood test was “irrelevant” and had “nothing to do” with the fatal collision.
The court also heard that when investigating Gardaí put it to O’Halloran that he had been drunk at the time of the collision, he replied “I couldn’t care less”.
When Gardaí put it to O’Halloran that Mr Birznieks had died, he told them: “I have enough to deal with my own injuries.”
O’Halloran’s barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, argued that O’Halloran had consistently maintained that it was Mr Birznieks’ truck that veered into his path.
Following the verdicts, O’Halloran, who had been on bail throughout his trial, was immediately remanded in custody to Limerick Prison.
His sentence date will be finalised in April.