Woman drove 2.5km after she struck and killed a cyclist in Kerry

Motorist jailed for four years after the 68-year-old cyclist died

A mother of three has been sentenced to four years in prison after she struck a cyclist in Co Kerry before driving on for 2.5km and crashing into a ditch.

Patrick Murphy, 68, of Upper Tullig, Killorglin, died at the scene.

Jade Moriarty of Muingaphuca, Killorglin, admitted dangerous driving causing the death on September 3, 2023.

Mr Murphy, a keen cyclist, was on a Sunday morning cycle on the Cromane to Killorglin road. He was wearing a high visibility top. Driving conditions were good and it was a bright sunny morning, investigating garda Donncha O’Brien told Tom Rice, prosecuting.

Jade Moriarty and her boyfriend had been partying the previous night and had a dispute. They left a house party separately.

Finding he was not at home, when she returned on Sunday morning she took his Ford Transit van to go and look for him.

At 8.25am, 250 metres after leaving the house, she struck Patrick Murphy’s bike in the rear in the townland of Cromane Lower, propelling him over a wall and into the front garden of a property.

A man who noticed debris on the road 30 minutes after the collision looked over the wall and found Patrick Murphy. The autopsy report found he received fatal injuries as the result of a collision.

Ms Moriarty failed to stop at the scene and drove a further 2.5km before she hit a ditch.

She was on a provisional licence and should not have been driving unaccompanied, the court was told. She was not insured to drive the van.

Arrested shortly afterwards, she admitted she had been driving. She had a blood alcohol reading of 197mg per 100ml which was described as “high”.

The court was told she had no memory of the first collision which killed Mr Murphy, but did recall the second impact.

Cross-examined by senior counsel Donal O’Sullivan, garda O’Brien agreed Ms Moriarty had broken down and could not believe what had happened when told. She was remorseful and apologetic throughout the interviews, the court was told.

She signed a plea of guilty as quickly as she could.

The deceased man’s widow, Jackii Murphy, said he was left to die alone and become “another statistic”.

“I didn’t just lose a husband. I lost my soul mate and best friend,” she said.

“My husband went out for a cycle. Something he had done for 21 years — but he never came home.”

His niece Josephine Delaney and nephew Brendan Cronin spoke of their sadness and their anger. 

“It was a hit and run. She left the scene and made no attempt to come to Pat’s aid; Her only concern was to save her own skin,” Mr Cronin said in his victim impact statement.

Donal O’Sullivan SC said his client is very remorseful. She has three young children. He also said she was “extremely drunk”.

She had problems at the time and was not dealing well with them. Psychiatric reports showed she was not immune from what had happened.

“She is a human being and it affected her,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

Judge Ronan Munro remanded Jade Moriarty in custody overnight on Thursday, delivering sentence on Friday.

He said only by the grace of God nobody else was injured.

He set a headline sentence of seven years, but reduced this to four years and eight months because of mitigating factors including her early guilty plea, and he suspended the final eight months. She is also disqualified from driving for eight years.