A LIMERICK man who was “steaming drunk” when he drove his car into a truck, killing the truck driver, was jailed for seven years.
Niall O’Halloran ploughed his Volkswagen Passat into the front of a lorry, killing the driver, Arturs Birznieks, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court had heard.
Mr O’Halloran (57), of Woodfield Drive, Newcastle West, County Limerick, continues to deny he was drunk and that he caused the fatal collision at N69, Reens East, Ardagh, County Limerick, at 2.50am on March 18, 2022.
In respect of O’Halloran’s conviction for dangerous driving causing Mr Birznieks’ death, Judge Simon McAleese determined an eight-year prison sentence was appropriate, which he reduced by one year in mitigation, giving O’Halloran a total sentence of seven years in prison. He also banned O’Halloran from driving for 10 years.
The judge imposed a concurrent six-month sentence on O’Halloran after his drink driving conviction.
O’Halloran had denied the two charges but was found guilty by a jury after a nine-day trial last March.
After the sentences were announced, O’Halloran shouted to his family in the courtroom: “I’ll appeal that, that’s a f**king disgrace.”
In sentencing, the judge said: “Mr O’Halloran has not shown a single jot of remorse, and he appears to have gained no insight into his offending.”
Earlier, O’Halloran had shouted in court, “I did not”, when prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley gave a summary of the evidence that he had driven into the path of Mr Birznieks’ truck on the morning in question.
O’Halloran’s car struck the front of the truck on Mr Birznieks’ side, which “left Mr Birznieks helpless” as the steering was destroyed, said Ms Buckley, instructed by Brendan Gill, State Solicitor for County Limerick, assisted by paralegal Sarah Heavenor.
The truck then collided with a wall and was subsequently crushed by its own trailer, which had been carrying 6,000 live chickens.
Mr Birznieks died instantly and O’Halloran was cut from his car by emergency services and rushed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick with serious injuries.
Paramedics and Gardaí who had attended the scene gave statements of having smelled alcohol from O’Halloran’s breath and said he had been slurring his words.
An emergency medicine doctor who treated O’Halloran told Gardaí he believed the defendant was drunk.
A blood sample taken from O’Halloran at the hospital showed he was three times over the legal limit, the court heard, and most likely six times over the legal limit closer to the time of the fatal collision.
O’Halloran told Gardaí after his arrest that he had been drinking “shandys” (part beer, part soft drink) in the hours prior to the collision, however he said did not consider shandys to be alcoholic drinks.
He still maintains that Mr Birznieks’ truck failed to take a bend properly in the moments before the fatal collision, and that the truck veered onto his side of the road.
O’Halloran suggested to Gardaí that Mr Birznieks could have been asleep or dead in the moments prior to the fatal collision.
The court heard that when Gardaí asked O’Halloran after his arrest if he had any sympathy for the truck driver, he replied: “I have enough to deal with my own injuries.”
O’Halloran’s car was sheered in half in the fatal collision. It was heard he had likely survived because he had been wearing a seatbelt.
After his conviction last March, Judge Simon McAleese told O’Halloran: “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.”
Ms Buckley had told O’Halloran’s trial that he had been “steaming drunk” at the time and that he “couldn’t see straight” for the level of alcohol in his blood.
The victim’s wife, Ina Birznieks, said her husband’s death “was an immense blow” to her and their two young daughters.
“He was not only a beloved husband, but also a caring father. After his tragic death, our lives were changed forever,” Ms Birznieks said.
“This tragedy has left a deep wound in our lives. There are things that can never be restored or fixed,” she said.
O’Halloran had a prior conviction in 2011 for drink driving, and was given a three-year road ban and fined €400.