An 88-year-old woman who was meticulous about minding herself and only crossed the road at pedestrian crossings was killed while crossing at such a point with the green light in her favour at a busy junction in her home town of Macroom.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin insisted on silence in Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday as Margaret Sheehan’s poignant and powerful victim impact statement was read.

A young driver “took his friend’s life” when he lost control at a junction and crashed into the pillar of a house in Co Cork.