Teen drink driver crashed on way to mother’s grave

By Tom Tuite

A teenage drink driver, who was going to visit his mother’s grave on his birthday when he crashed and seriously injured another motorist, has been jailed for five months.

Philip Dunbar, from Glenshane Drive, Tallaght, was aged 17 and still a juvenile at the time but is now 18 and an adult, so can be named. He was also handed a four-year driving ban.

He pleaded guilty at the Dublin Children’s Court to drink driving, dangerous driving and driving without a licence or insurance in connection with the incident at Kiltipper Rd, Tallaght, on August 21, 2017.

Judge John O’Connor heard the youth had been driving a 99D-reg car when he veered onto the wrong side of the road and collided with an oncoming driver who suffered a punctured lung as a result of the crash.

A sample of his blood was taken which was found to have 93mg of alcohol per 100ml blood.

The teenage driver had also suffered a fractured neck, the court was told.

He subsequently admitted to gardaí that he did not have a licence or insurance at the time.

The court heard he had four prior convictions. All of them were for road traffic offences, having no licence or insurance and failing to produce documentation in March last year.

Pleading for leniency, defence counsel Amy Deane told the court her client’s mother had died of an overdose.

At the time of the crash, it was Dunbar’s second birthday without his mother and he was visiting her grave. The court heard he left school at 14.

The barrister said that Dunbar was sorry for the injuries he inflicted.

Sentencing, Judge John O’Connor said it was serious dangerous driving charge and it was not his first offence. He also noted the victim had to be brought to hospital and had suffered a collapsed lung.