A taxi-driver who drove through a red light and knocked down a five-year-old boy has been ordered to pay a €1,000 fine or serve a one-year prison sentence. Salvatore Macken (64) was given a 12-month sentence by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court but she suspended it because of his age and medical problems. She also banned him from driving for 10 years.
Macken (64), St Dominic's Avenue, Tallaght, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm, leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident.
Garda Camon Ryan told Mr Paul Burns, prosecuting, that Macken drove his taxi through a red light in Tallaght on September 11th, 2001. Kevin Corrigan was crossing the road with the aid of a "lollipop lady" and was just in front of his mother, who was wheeling a pram. The boy was thrown into the air and landed on the bonnet of Macken's car before being carried along for 30 feet. He had been in hospital for a number of weeks, but had now made a full recovery.