Man jailed for dangerous driving causing 'life-changing injuries' to retired Mayo GP

An 18-year-old uninsured motorist, under the influence of drugs and driving a defective vehicle, who knocked down a retired family doctor causing him “life changing and catastrophic injuries”, was jailed for five years today with the final year suspended.

At Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Eoin Garavan also banned Patrick Sweeney, who is now aged 20, Claremorris Road, Ballinrobe, for ten years for dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to retired Castlebar GP Dr. Paul Carney.

Judge Garavan said the accident which caused Dr. Carney devastating brain trauma and physical injuries on the N84 Castlebar to Ballinrobe road had been “entirely unnecessary and entirely avoidable."

The judge noted that the victim, a father of five and grandfather of sixteen, had been enjoying the freedom of his first days of retirement and the pleasure of cycling in the countryside on June 14, 2023, a beautiful summer day.

Judge Garavan described the consequences of the accident as horrendous – entirely life changing - for the victim and his family.

He said Dr. Carney had just been deemed cancer free.

“Imagine," he asked, “the happiness of that man on a beautiful summer day."

The court heard that Sweeney, who was driving his mother’s Toyota Avensis, had been uninsured and traces of cannabis and cocaine had been found in his system.

He had been travelling at 115 kmph on the N84, sometimes at 100 kmph, sometimes 80 kmph, and admitted to gardaí afterwards he could not avoid the impact due to his excessive speed.

Evidence was given to an earlier hearing that six or six minutes prior to the accident Sweeney had been involved in a game of tag with an unknown BMW driver which involved the vehicles passing each other out, causing alarm to other road users who felt that a serious accident was unavoidable.

Describing Sweeney’s driving as “manifestly dangerous," Judge Garavan said he had engaged in what to his mind was a rather thrilling race game between Ballinrobe and the accident scene.

The judge noted that Sweeney, who had two passengers in his vehicle, had failed to stop at the accident scene but had returned within a matter of minutes.

At a previous court, Dr. Carney’s daughter, Brenda, read a victim impact statement in which she said her Dad was “on top of the world” on that fateful morning.

He had just received a clean bill of health after going through gruelling cancer treatment.

“Life was good and he was embracing it with gusto as he always did. That morning he dropped his grandchildren to school as usual.

"It was a beautiful day and he planned to go for a swim after his cycle, with the wind on his back along a road he knew so well."

Brenda said her father’s “soul and his spark” have been taken away.

He will never be able to live independently and he will never return to the home that he loved and worked so hard for all his life.

“Dad is living but he has no quality of life. We are grieving but we have no grave.”

On his release, Sweeney is to come under the care of the probation service for one and a half years and complete 200 hours community service post-release within 18 months.

The prison sentence imposed today has been backdated to October 18 when Sweeney was first taken into custody.

At the outset of today’s sentencing hearing, prosecuting counsel, Mr. Patrick Reynolds, read a message from the Carney family in which they thanked Judge Garavan, the gardaí and the courts service “for their time, consideration and professionalism which was shown to us at all times throughout this ordeal.”