Man ‘accepts guilt’ after hit-and-run verdict

A 23-year-old man who had denied being involved in a fatal hit and run admitted being responsible for the accident, soon after a guilty verdict was returned against him following a month-long trial.

Shane Fitzgerald, of Knockeen, Meelin, Newmarket, Co Cork, has been given a six-and-a-half year sentence for dangerous driving causing the death of Paud O’Leary, a 42-year-old cyclist, almost three years ago.

Eighteen months of the sentence was suspended on his entering a bond to keep the peace for two years and he was disqualified from driving for 10 years.