Motorist stopped after dangerous drive put garda's life in danger by reversing at speed

Garda had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck, court told

Garda Cormac Dineen was certain he would have been struck by the accused's car if he had not taken evasive action. File picture

The life of a garda was endangered when a motorist reversed at speed as the officer was trying to keep him stopped after a high-speed dangerous drive across rural roads in the early hours of the morning.

Darren Fraser O’Donovan, aged 25, faced sentencing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Friday on charges including endangerment of the life of Garda Cormac Dineen.

The defendant, who was living at Choill Barra, Dunmanway, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to endangering the life of Garda Dineen on February 25, 2023, and to dangerous driving at a number of locations from Ballinhassig through Innishannon to Dunderrow.

Garda Dineen gave evidence of seeing the car driven by the accused at 4.25am on that date, and said he approached.

Judge Helen Boyle said that at this point “rather than doing what was required of you (the accused), you took off at high speed on country roads, through junctions displaying stop signs, without stopping, travelling at speeds of 100km per hour, and 120km and even up to 180km”.

When the car finally came to a stop and Garda Dineen exited the Garda patrol car, things got worse.

“Garda Dineen put his hand on the passenger door and opened it, you reversed your vehicle to turn towards Garda Dineen, causing him to jump out of the way. He is certain he would have been struck if he had not taken evasive action.

“He took out his baton to smash the driver’s window to stop you. That did not work, and you took off again.

It was sustained driving at speed, at times on the wrong side of the road going through junctions.

“I have no doubt it must have been a scary incident for the garda.

“The reason you took off is that you had no insurance on the car. If you had stayed put and dealt with this properly, you might not even have been disqualified from driving.”

Judge Boyle noted that the young man had been inclined to compulsive behaviour when he was younger. In his favour, he co-operated ultimately with the investigation and with the probation service.

Ben Shorten, defence barrister, said O'Donovan had not come to the adverse attention of gardaí since this incident occurred over two years ago.

Judge Boyle had remanded the accused in custody on May 7 but has now imposed a three-year sentence backdated to this date, with the balance of it suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.