a day ago
Man who was banned from road after fatal crash jailed for driving while disqualified
Francis Carey will serve a year and five months in prison after he failed to overturn convictions for driving without a licence and insurance
A man who was caught driving while serving a three-year disqualification for dangerous driving causing death has been sent to prison for a year and five months after losing a recent appeal at Tralee Circuit Criminal Court.
Francis Carey, of 18 William O'Brien Street in Mallow, failed to overturn District Court convictions for driving without a licence and driving without insurance at Ballymacthomas, Tralee on October 9, 2024.
Mr Carey was sentenced at the District Court on October 24 last year to five months in prison and put off the road for four years for driving without a licence. He was ordered to pay a fine of €350 and received a two-year disqualification for driving without insurance.
The District Court ruling triggered a suspended sentence of one year in prison which Mr Carey had received on July 29, 2023 after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Patrick Martin in Kilmorna in North Kerry in 2017.
Defence barrister Richard Liston said Mr Carey's appeal was a plea to not activate the suspended sentence.
Mr Liston said the dangerous driving incident in Kilmorna had taken place as Mr Carey drove on a wet and dark night. He had edged his vehicle onto a junction as the victim Mr Martin approached on a motorbike with deficiencies.
The victim had attempted to stop and slid into the side of Mr Carey's vehicle.
Tralee Circuit Criminal Court. File photo
News in 90 Seconds - 15th June 2025
Mr Liston said Mr Carey was found to have driven carelessly because he had inched onto the road even though Gardaí admit inching is necessary at the Kilmorna junction.
Mr Carey was convicted of driving dangerously causing death. He was disqualified from driving for three years and received a one year prison sentence suspended for two years.
Tralee Circuit Criminal Court last week heard that Gardaí found Mr Carey driving while he was serving his disqualification on October 9 last year.
Mr Liston said his client had received a call on that day which indicated that a daughter of his, who has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD, was in distress and had been brought to A&E.
The barrister said his client had altered his life completely to stay off the road and sometimes walked 11km to work.
He said Mr Carey made a 'drastic, terribly stupid decision' to get into a vehicle he owned after receiving this call.
While driving this vehicle in Tralee, Mr Carey was stopped by Gardaí. Mr Liston said his client never got to see his daughter because of this.
Judge Sinead Behan questioned why the defendant had a vehicle in his possession while serving a disqualification from driving.
Mr Liston replied that his client would have been entitled to apply for a driving licence after serving a period of his three-year disqualification.
Judge Behan said she understood Mr Carey's reason for driving was to go to his daughter in A&E. She asked if there was documentary evidence to prove this.
The Judge said the incident was 'really serious' given that Mr Carey had previously pled guilty to dangerous driving causing death.
In response, Mr Carey spoke up and said that he was told his daughter was in A&E in the phone call he received.
Mr Liston said his client was 'informed of where she was brought'.
Judge Behan said that was a 'different thing' to what he had argued earlier.
'He is now indicating that he was told that,' she said.
'A medical emergency is one thing.
'Other than that he is in some difficulty.'
The Judge remanded Mr Carey in custody until the following day, and instructed the defence to produce evidence that his daughter had visited A&E.
On Friday morning, Mr Liston told Judge Behan that he did not have documentary proof that his client's daughter had been in A&E.
'It was his understanding that the child had been taken to A&E,' Mr Liston said.
'That is his firm belief.'
Judge Behan was not convinced. She said a five month sentence had been imposed by the District Court for driving without a licence and she was not going to set this aside.
The Judge said she appreciated that the defendant's life is not straightforward but said he had committed a 'serious offence' after previously pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death.
She imposed the five month sentence Mr Carey received at the District Court and refused to vary the one-year suspended sentence that had been activated.
Mr Carey's prison sentence was backdated to the day previous.
