SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR DRIVER IN FATAL BARNA CRASH

Date Published: 15-Sep-2010

A young Galway man has been given a suspended sentence for failing to report a hit-and-run in Barna which killed a young Tipperary man last year. 22-year-old Gary O’Donnell with an address at 14 Carragh Drive, Salthill pleaded Guilty at Galway District Court today. On October 4th 2009 at around 2.30am, 19-year-old Andrew Walsh from Fethard in Tipperary was struck by O’Donnell’s car close to Barna Golf Club. According to Gardai, O’Donnell’s car left the road as a result of the collision and he fled the scene without contacting emergency services.  Andrew’s mother, Ann, addressed the court and said she wasn’t seeking “vengeance” and wasn’t full of “hatred or anger.” She described her son as a "mature, responsible young man with a million dollar smile." Judge Mary Fahy said she was tempted to hand down a custodial sentence and sought the family’s opinion on the matter. Andrew’s brother said the family was “in her hands,” before Judge Fahy handed down a nine month sentence which she suspended for two years. She also disqualified him for driving for five years and fined him five hundred euro for driving on a provisional licence without a fully licensed driver.