A Limerick father of five who was \u201csteaming drunk\u201d when he drove his car into a truck, killing the truck driver, has been jailed for seven years.<\/p>\n
Niall O\u2019Halloran (57) ploughed his Volkswagen Passat into the front of a lorry, killing the driver, Arturs Birznieks, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court had heard.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran, of Woodfield Drive, Newcastle West, Co Limerick, continues to deny he was drunk and that he caused the fatal collision at N69, Reens East, Ardagh, Co Limerick, at 2.50am on March 18th, 2022.<\/p>\n
Judge Simon McAleese imposed an eight-year prison sentence with the final 12 months suspended, plus a ten-year road ban, after O\u2019Halloran\u2019s conviction for dangerous driving causing the death of Berznieks.<\/p>\n
The judge imposed a concurrent six-month sentence on O\u2019Halloran after his drunk driving conviction.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran had denied the two charges but was found guilty by a jury after a nine-day trial last March.<\/p>\n
After the sentences were announced, O\u2019Halloran shouted to his family, who were sitting in the courtroom to support him: \u201cI\u2019ll appeal that, that\u2019s a fucking disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n
In sentencing O\u2019Halloran, the judge said: \u201cMr O\u2019Halloran has not shown a single jot of remorse, and he appears to have gained no insight into his offending.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, O\u2019Halloran had shouted in court, \u201cI did not\u201d, when prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley gave a summary of the evidence that he had driven into the path of Birznieks’ truck on the morning in question.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran\u2019s car struck the front of the truck on Birznieks’ side, which \u201cleft Mr Birznieks helpless\u201d as the steering was destroyed, said Buckley, instructed by Brendan Gill, State Solicitor for Co Limerick, assisted by paralegal Sarah Heavenor.<\/p>\n
The truck then collided with a wall and was subsequently crushed by its own trailer, which had been carrying 6,000 live chickens.<\/p>\n
Birznieks died instantly in the impact, and O\u2019Halloran was cut from his car by emergency services and rushed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick (UHL) with serious injuries.<\/p>\n
Paramedics and garda\u00ed who had attended the scene gave statements of having smelled alcohol from O\u2019Halloran\u2019s breath and said he had been slurring his words.<\/p>\n
An emergency medicine doctor at UHL, who treated O\u2019Halloran, told garda\u00ed he believed the defendant was drunk.<\/p>\n
A blood sample taken from O\u2019Halloran at the hospital showed he was three times over the legal limit, and most likely six times over the legal limit, closer to the time of the fatal collision.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran told garda\u00ed after his arrest that he had been drinking \u201cshandys\u201d (part beer, part soft drink) in the hours before the collision; however, he said he did not consider shandys to be alcoholic drinks.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran still maintains that Birznieks’ truck failed to take a bend properly in the moments before the fatal collision, and that the truck had veered over onto his side of the road.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran suggested to garda\u00ed that Birznieks could have been asleep or dead in the moments prior to the fatal collision.<\/p>\n
Judge McAleese said O\u2019Halloran attempted to \u201cblame\u201d the victim for the collision, which was an \u201catrocious and reprehensible\u201d thing to do.<\/p>\n
The court heard that, when garda\u00ed asked O\u2019Halloran, after his arrest, if he had any sympathy for the truck driver, he replied: \u201cI have enough to deal with my own injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n
When garda\u00ed put it to O\u2019Halloran that he was drunk behind the wheel of his car at the time, he told them: \u201cIt\u2019s irrelevant, it had nothing to do with it, I couldn’t care less.\u201d<\/p>\n
When pressed on it by garda\u00ed, he added: \u201cThat\u2019s wrong, I did not cause his accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran\u2019s car was sheared in half in the fatal collision. It was heard he had likely survived because he had been wearing a seat belt.<\/p>\n
After his conviction last March, Judge Simon McAleese told O\u2019Halloran: \u201cYour driving and your drinking killed a man. Putting it politely, you seem to be in denial about your wrongdoing, your appalling, egregious, dreadful behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge McAleese told O\u2019Halloran his \u201cdrink-fueled dangerous driving\u201d caused Birznieks’ death and that his conduct had been \u201cutterly inexcusable and deplorable\u201d.<\/p>\n
Buckley had told O\u2019Halloran\u2019s trial that he had been \u201csteaming drunk\u201d at the time and that he \u201ccouldn\u2019t see straight\u201d for the level of alcohol in his blood.<\/p>\n
She said O\u2019Halloran was \u201cfull of drink\u201d when he drove into the path of Birznieks\u2019 truck.<\/p>\n
\u201cNiall O\u2019Halloran says he wasn\u2019t drunk, he was; that has been proven,\u201d added Ms Buckley.<\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s wife, Ina Birznieks, said her husband\u2019s death \u201cwas an immense blow\u201d to her as well as their two young daughters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was not only a beloved husband but also a caring father. After his tragic death, our lives were changed forever,\u201d Ms Birznieks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day is filled with pain and grief,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis tragedy has left a deep wound in our lives. Some things can never be restored or fixed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran had a prior conviction in 2011 for drink driving, and was given a three-year road ban and fined \u20ac400.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Limerick father of five who was \u201csteaming drunk\u201d when he drove his car into a truck, killing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-458755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}