Drink driver ignored appeals to slow down

A drink driver had to get a jail sentence for dangerous driving that seriously injured a woman who was a passenger in the car, the judge said yesterday as evidence was given of the driver ignoring appeals from passengers to slow down.

Ciaran Fitzpatrick, of Lehenamore, Togher, Cork, was sentenced to four years, with the last three years suspended, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. The sentence was backdated to July as Fitzpatrick had been in custody since then.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said: “This matter deserves a substantial custodial sentence. It is at the higher end of offences of this type.”