A woman in her 60s has been given a 15 year driving ban and a 4 year suspended prison sentence following a serious road traffic collision in Longford two years ago.
Mary Bohan of Mount Ida, Cloone, Co Leitrim was sentenced in Longford Circuit Court this morning on a charge of dangerous driving causing serious injury.
The collision occurred on the 19th of August 2021 on the Drumlins Road in Longford and resulted in life threatening injuries to the victim and her emergency transport to hospital via air ambulance.
In beginning his sentencing this morning, Judge Keelan Johnston described witness accounts of the accused's car driving erratically and swerving into oncoming traffic, resulting in several near misses.
At Shanagh Cross on the R198, the accused's car is reported to have clipped an oncoming car, resulting in it crashing into a nearby wall, while Ms Bohan's car swerved head on into another vehicle.
The driver of that vehicle sustained life threatening injuries including fractured ribs and vertebrae and was transferred to Tallaght Hospital via Air Ambulance.
The accused also suffered severe injuries including a broken leg, ribs and ankle.
Following a blood alcohol test, Ms Bohan was found to be 3 times over the legal limit.
In her victim impact statement, the victim described how her quality of life had been affected and how she regularly relives the trauma of the crash and the subsequent emergency helicopter transport.
In handing down sentence, Judge Johnson stated that it was clear the accused was highly intoxicated and was grossly negligent to get behind the wheel of a car, noting that as a mature lady, she should have known better.
The woman in her 60s was sentenced to a four year suspended prison sentence and handed a 15 year driving ban.
She was also ordered to pay €5,000 to the The National Rehabilitation Hospital towards the treatment of road crash victims and to refrain from drinking alcohol. ]
