A DRUNK driver who knocked down a UCD student has received a three-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court with the final 18 months suspended.
Oliver Dunne (32) told gardaí he had been thrown out of his marital home and had planned to sleep in his car the night he hit Cian McGovern, leaving him with a permanent knee injury.
Dunne, of The Ash, Parkview, Stepaside, refused to give a breath sample when arrested after crashing his car into a wall at Ely Place in the city centre, but admitted he had been drunk and had done “a terrible thing”.
Garda David Sharkey agreed with Garret Baker, defending, that Dunne had just been released from a three-month stay at St Patrick’s hospital when he drove around the city intoxicated on alcohol and antidepressants. Judge Katherine Delahunt also fined Dunne €1,000 and disqualified him from driving for two years.
She described the incident as “an appalling series of events” and noted that Mr McGovern’s ambitions of playing Gaelic football had been “forfeited” because of Dunne’s behaviour on the night.
Dunne pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop and injuring Mr McGovern and refusing to give a breath test at Harcourt Garda station on November 29th, 2008.
He has no previous convictions.
The young student had been a keen GAA football player with hopes of getting on the Cavan under-21 team before the injury, which required two operations.
Mr Baker said his client wished to make an “unreserved” apology to Mr McGovern and his family. He asked the judge to take into consideration Dunne’s guilty plea and tragic mental health background.
Judge Delahunt acknowledged the case was “an undoubted tragedy” but noted that Dunne’s behaviour had resulted in “catastrophic injuries” to the young student.