Five years for drug user who hit and killed girl

A man who drank a litre of vodka and took two grams of cocaine before he knocked down and killed a toddler in the Phoenix Park last year has been jailed for five years.

Ciaran Lane, aged 25, of Ashington Avenue, Cabra, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the death of 23-month-old Vanessa Siatka at Ratra Triangle, Phoenix Park, on April 6, 2015.

In a victim impact report, the child’s mother, Katarzyna, said she could only watch as her “baby was taken away” from her.