Dublin drink driver left woman with brain injury

A woman who was almost three times the legal limit when she knocked down a mother of two, leaving her with a brain injury, has been jailed for three years.

Jayne Kearney, aged 26, told gardaí she had intended to stay at Citywest Hotel that night rather than drive home but she had a row with her boyfriend. She drove off after she hit Blathnaid Molloy, who was walking towards the hotel entrance to get a taxi home.

Kearney, of Foxborough Downs, Lucan, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm and driving while intoxicated at City West on March 8, 2014.

Ms Molloy’s husband was in front of her that night, while her friend was walking behind her. The couple were out celebrating their wedding anniversary at a local GAA club fundraiser.

Kearney, who does not know the couple, was at the same event. She has eight previous road traffic convictions including ones for no insurance, no tax, exceeding the speed limit, and having no passenger rear seat belt.

Ms Molloy, who has no recollection of the accident, had a fractured skull and slight bleeding on the brain. She has a speech and hearing impairment as a result and suffers from dizzy spells.

Ms Molloy said she missed her eldest’s son’s first day at school because she vomited every time she tried to move. She was not able to care for her youngest child, who was 11 months old at the time of the accident, and said it had taken some time for her to re-establish their bond.

Ms Molloy said her husband did not go into the details of the accident with her and every time they spoke of it, he started to cry, which she said broke her heart.

She said there were times she was so unwell she wished she had gone because it may be easier for her loved ones to deal with “rather than the horrible life I have given them”: “My life has changed forever, as has that of my loved ones. I will never forgive the person who did this to me”.

Ms Molloy and her husband wished for her victim impact report to be read into the record. She said the accident had changed her life forever while she and her husband were on “a rare night out” celebrating their anniversary. She said she missed out on so much time with her children, particularly her baby who was 11 months old and needed her — he became closer to other people and it took some time to re-establish their bond. She missed out on her son’s first day of school. She said she tried to make it but vomited every time she tried to move. She could hear her husband explain to the child that his mother was too sick to come with him before she heard “his little legs run up the stairs” — her son hugged her very tightly and told her not to worry, he would be back soon.

She said she had been diagnosed as having a moderate brain injury, which she described as a “hidden disability”, saying people did not how to deal with her. Ms Molloy concluded her statement by saying she was thankful both to the hospital staff and gardaí.

Garda Alan Mooney arrested Kearney, who was later found to have 198mg/ml alcohol per 100ml urine — the legal limit is 67mg/ml. Garda Mooney agreed with Sean Gillane SC, defending, that Kearney was “sharply conscious of what she had done” as her brother had been killed as a teenager in a road traffic accident in 2009. He handed in a letter from Kearney, her mother, and her sister. He said his client wished Ms Molloy the best in her recovery and her life and realised forgiveness was something she would be asking for the rest of her life.

Judge Martin Nolan imposed a three-year sentence and disqualified Kearney from driving for three years.