Judge: Hit and run driver disgraceful

A motorist’s decision to drive away after a collision with a child leaving the boy slumped in the middle of the road was described as disgraceful by the judge who jailed him yesterday.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin imposed a three-year jail term with the last 18 months suspended in the case against the motorist, John Coffey, of no fixed address.

Inspector Vincent O’Sullivan said a media appeal through the Irish Examiner and Evening Echo gave them the breakthrough in the case.