'He died like a dog on the street': Parents of Joe Drennan 'disgusted' at killer's sentence
Joe Drennan, 21, a University of Limerick journalism student, was killed while standing waiting at a bus stop, on October 13, 2023
The family of student hit-and-run victim Joe Drennan said they were “disgusted” by his killer’s sentence of six and half years, after a judge said it would run concurrent to another sentence imposed on the driver for firing an automatic firearm in a separate incident.
Limerick gangland criminal Kieran Fogarty was jailed for eight years for firing the illegal automatic firearm at the front of a house where children played in Limerick City in April 2023.
Six months afterwards, and while he was on bail and disqualified from driving for road traffic offences, Fogarty crashed into and killed Joe Drennan, 21, a University of Limerick journalism student, who was standing waiting at a bus stop, on October 13, 2023.
Fogarty's sentences were all backdated to October 2023.
Before fleeing the crash scene and failing to offer assistance to Mr Drennan or alert the emergency services, Fogarty attempted to wipe his forensic presence from the car, but forensic gardaĂ matched his DNA on an airbag that deployed in the hit-and-run.
Fogarty received further concurrent sentences for engaging in violent disorder, possessing cocaine, MDMA and alprazolam drugs for sale or supply, and his guilty plea to threatening to kill Raymond Collins Jnr in April 2023 was taken into consideration by the judge.
In court, after the sentences were imposed, Tim Drennan, the father of Joe Drennan, asked Judge Daly: “Sorry, Your Honour, does that mean that this fella [Fogarty] will not serve a day [in jail] for killing my son?”Â
Earlier, the judge had said the hit-and-run sentence would run in addition to the shooting sentence, but later the judge corrected this.
The judge, rising from his bench, did not respond to Mr Drennan’s query, and retired to his private chambers.
Afterwards, speaking outside the court, Joe Drennan’s parents, Tim and Marguerite Drennan, said they were “disgusted” by the outcome. In their eyes, they said, Fogarty “would not serve anything” for Joe’s death
Holding a picture of their son in a key-ring, Tim Drennan said Kieran Fogarty had left his son to “die like a dog on the street”. He said he felt like Fogarty had got away without punishment for “killing my son”.
Marguerite Drennan said Fogarty’s sentence for her son’s death was “absolutely unbelievable” and “really hard to take”.
“He [Fogarty] did an awful lot of crime for a few years in jail, he got a free ride for killing Joe, he got nothing,” said Tim Drennan.
“He [Fogarty] got eight years for shooting into a wall, and he got six and half years for killing Joe, and he’s not going to be serving anything for Joe because the other one is a longer sentence,” Tim Drennan added.
Paying tribute to her son, Marguerite Drennan said: “Joe was amazing, the bubble of our lives, he was just everything to us, he was the chief editor of the [University of Limerick student newspaper], he worked for , he was the voice for the voiceless.”Â
Tim Drennan added: “That man [Fogarty] gave Joe no help after he crashed into him and killed him and left him lying under the car. At the end of the day, Joe was a unique individual, and he basically died like a dog on the street in Limerick when [Fogarty] left him there, and now today he gets nothing for it.”Â
Tim and Marguerite Drennan said they hoped the Director of Public Prosecutions would appeal Fogarty’s sentence in respect of their son’s death, that it would be served consecutively/additionally to Fogarty’s sentence for the shooting.
The Drennans said they were also disappointed for the gardaà “who put in an awful lot of work” into the prosecution against Fogarty for their son’s death: “It’s a kick in the teeth for that”.
The Drennans said, in their opinion, they got “no justice” for their son.
“Hopefully it will be appealed, they have 28 days to appeal it, the DPP has to make up its mind, we can’t say, but hopefully it will be appealed, it has to be appealed, because there is no sense to it,” they added.
Tim Drennan said: “He [Fogarty] won't serve a day for Joe, he did all them other things first, so it was a free run for Joe. What people should understand is that, Joe was on his own at the bus stop, there could have been 10 people at that bus stop, there could have been 10 people dead, and would he [Fogarty[ have got a concurrent sentence for [10 deaths]?”
Fogarty, 21, of Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, killed Joe Drennan while he was on bail, disqualified from driving for other driving offences, and subject to five outstanding arrest warrants,Â
Moments before ploughing into Mr Drennan, from Mountrath, Co Laois, Fogarty was filming himself on a mobile phone and sharing the video on social media, while still driving his BMW 5 Series, while he outpaced a Garda car at 122km/h in a 50km/h zone.
Fogarty broke a red light, stuck a car, lost control of the BMW and slammed into Mr Drennan, who was waiting at a bus stop on Dublin Road, Castletroy, Limerick.
In her victim impact statement, Joe Drennan’s sister, Sarah Drennan, said her brother’s death had “left an unbearable emptiness” in her family.Â
“Joe was taken in a most violent, senseless way possible, in a moment of senseless, reckless disregard for human life,” she said.
Fogarty’s own barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, said Fogarty’s driving on the night was “appalling, undeniably serious, reckless, dangerous, disgraceful and inexcusable”.
Fogarty, who had 46 previous convictions, including 41 for road traffic offences, including dangerous driving, pleaded guilty to all of the offences against him.
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