The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is to appeal the concurrent sentence given to a man for killing a journalism student in a hit-and-run incident in Limerick two years ago, according to the deceased man’s family.
Joe Drennan, from Mountrath, Co Laois, was waiting for a bus when he was fatally injured by a car driven by Kieran Fogarty on October 13th, 2023.
Mr Drennan’s parents said they were “disgusted” with a judge’s decision late last month to allow Fogarty’s 6½ year sentence for killing their son to run concurrently to an eight-year term he is serving for a firearms offence.
They had called on the DPP to lodge an appeal, arguing that the sentence for killing their son should run consecutively to the other. They argued that Fogarty would not serve any time in jail for killing their son.
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Mr Drennan’s mother, Marguerite, on Wednesday said the DPP had confirmed to the family that it intended to appeal the sentence handed down by Judge Colin Daly’s at Limerick Circuit Court on January 30th.
“Yes, it’s great news, thank God, thank God, thank God,” she said.
The DPP has been contacted for comment.
Ms Drennan said the family would press ahead with an online petition calling on the Government to amend current laws “to ensure that multiple sentences for serious crimes, particularly those involving loss of life, are served consecutively rather than concurrently”.
The petition, launched last week, had garnered more than 11,500 signatures as of Wednesday.
“It won’t bring Joe back, but it will help other families,” Ms Drennan said.
Members of Mr Drennan’s family and supporters had on Tuesday held a protest outside the Dáil over the judge’s decision.
Fogaty (21), of Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, was speeding and filming himself using a mobile phone in the moments before the fatal crash.
He was on bail, subject to several arrest warrants and banned from driving by the courts at the time.
Before fleeing the crash scene, Fogarty failed to offer assistance to Mr Drennan or to alert the emergency services. He also attempted to wipe his forensic presence from the car, but gardaí managed to match his DNA to some found on an airbag that deployed after the crash.
At last month’s sentencing hearing, Fogarty received further concurrent sentences for engaging in violent disorder and possessing drugs for sale or supply. He also pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a man in April 2023.
Judge Colin Daly initially told the court he was sentencing Fogarty to an additional 6½ years for the fatal hit-and-run, but later corrected himself and said it would run concurrently to the eight year sentence.
