Mother of drink-drive victim calls for harsher sentences after Jennifer Thomas case in Cork

Christina Donnelly said: 'Sentencing, not just in this case and in my son’s case, but also in other cases, is a disgrace. It is absolutely appalling.'

Christina Donnelly with a picture of her son Brendan who died in a crash that bore some similarities to the Jennifer Thomas case. She described the sentence imposed on Ms Thomas as 'a disgrace'. File picture: Denis Scannell

As Jennifer Thomas spends the first weekend of a four-year sentence in prison, the case has already sparked calls for stiffer punishments for dangerous driving offences.

Ms Thomas, 46, of 10 Oakfield View, Glanmire, Cork, was sentenced on Thursday to five years, with the last year suspended, after she pleaded guilty to driving in a manner that was dangerous to the public, thereby causing the death of 50-year-old Sheila Dunne at Sarsfields Court on February 11.