Driver who caused traumatic brain injury to victim jailed for eight months
Carlow courthouse Photo: Michael O'Rourke
A BORRIS man was sentenced to eight months in prison for knocking down a man on Borris Main Street on 5 December 2022.
Michael Murphy, 7 Woodlawn Park, Borris, pleaded guilty in an earlier court sitting to careless driving causing serious bodily harm under section 52 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961.
Judge Sinéad McMullan accepted Mr Murphy’s guilty plea as a “concrete expression of remorse” but said she “couldn’t bring herself to fully suspend the 16-month sentence”.
“It’s too serious a matter to do anything else,” she explained.
Mr Murphy (50) was driving in a van through Borris on a dark, wet evening while twice over the legal alcohol limit when he knocked down a local man who was on the way to a football match. The fall dislocated his elbow, broke three of his teeth and caused him to have a bleed on the brain. He was an in-patient for nine days at St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, the court heard.
The injured party, a maths teacher, has no recollection of the incident and continues to experience memory loss and brain fatigue.
His first child was born shortly after the incident and he is scared to be left alone with his daughter should he experience a relapse of symptoms.
The victim’s “magnanimous” impact statement described how he had taken six months off work to recover. The court heard that his life is now much restricted by his injury and he regrets that he is a burden on his family. The injured party had been a talented hurler with both the county team and Mount Leinster Rangers.
“His life as he knew it has completely changed since the incident,” said Judge McMullan. Despite this, he holds no bitterness towards anyone.
Judge McMullan said Mr Murphy expressed remorse to gardaí and didn’t know what he had hit. He thought that a car had been reversing, remembered a bang and a jeep following him. He said in his statement, "If I knew I hit a person I definitely would have stopped.” In weighing up the length of the sentence to be imposed, Judge McMullan accepted that the defendant was “extremely apologetic” and that he cooperated fully with the gardaí while also taking part in a driver safety awareness course.
David Roberts BL urged the court to consider fully suspend his client’s sentence due to his good work history, remorsefulness and the fact that he cares for his parents who are both aged in their 70s. Mr Murphy made a sum of €5,000 available to the injured party by way of compensation in the sentencing hearing.
In weighing up these factors, Judge McMullan set the headline sentence at 22 months, just two months below the maximum sentence because she considered it to be at “the highest level of careless driving”.
She reduced it to 16 months and suspended the last eight months. Mr Murphy was also disqualified from driving for two years.
The judge agreed to stay the order to take him into custody so that the defendant could regularise his affairs with his parents. Mr Murphy must present himself to Carlow Garda Station this morning (Tuesday) at 9am.
