First three paragraphs read: "
SENTENCING a mother to six months for dangerous driving, a District Court Judge said it was only by chance and luck she didnt kill someone."
''What about the people she nearly killed?' he asked."
"'What about the Gardaí that she nearly killed? What about the other motorists?,' asked Judge William Harnett after being told Nora Daley was depressed and on medication the day she embarked on a driving rampage."
http://www.carlowpeople.ie/news/drivers-rampage-1328724.htmlDrivers rampage
Thursday March 27 2008
SENTENCING a mother to six months for dangerous driving, a District Court Judge said it was only by chance and luck she didnt kill someone.
'What about the people she nearly killed? he asked.
'What about the Gardaí that she nearly killed? What about the other motorists?, asked Judge William Harnett after being told Nora Daley was depressed and on medication the day she embarked on a driving rampage.
Daley, of 52, The Laurels, Tullow Road, was convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment and received a six-year ban for dangerous driving at Rathcrogue and Ballinacarrig on March 16, 2007.
She was fined a total of €1,300 and disqualified from driving for four years for driving without insurance or a licence and drunk driving at Ballinacarrig on the same occasion when an alcohol reading showed 69mg per 100ml breath.
She received a three-month sentence, to run concurrent, for failing to stop at Graiguenaspidogue and Rathcrogue when she damaged a van belonging to PJ OConnor while attempting to flee pursuing Gardaí.
During the sitting of Carlow District Court on Wednesday ,further charges came to light. She was convicted and fined €400 for threatening and abusive behaviour at Carlow garda station on January 21, 2007, when she called to the station demanding the release of her son who had been arrested in relation to a separate incident.
Further charges of intoxication in a public place and failing to comply were taken in to consideration.
Two bench warrants had been issued seeking Ms Daleys arrest before the sitting as she had failed to appear in relation to the case on previous occasions.
The court heard that her partner was arrested for drunk driving on the night and after declining an offer by Gardaí to drop her home, Daley was discovered driving the vehicle herself while intoxicated five minutes later at Graiguenaspidogue.
The car took off at speed and clipped the front corner of the patrol car. Travelling at approximately 90 miles an hour the defendant then took a turn on the wrong side of the road and overtook at Kellistown forcing oncoming traffic in to a hard shoulder.
Two townlands away, at Rathcrogue, she entered the new bypass with excessive speed and locked the brakes behind a van causing €600 worth of damage when she tried to overtake it from the inside.
Following this Gardaí gave evidence that they tried to block Daleys vehicle in with the patrol car but she pulled in front and clipped the car along with an oncoming vehicle.
A further patrol car was waiting in Ballinacarrig to try and bring the driver to a halt. On seeing this vehicle, Daley tried to make a turn at excessive speed and ended up in a ditch.
She took off again and hit the patrol car on her way out once more causing a total of €1,400 worth of damages before being removed from the vehicle by Gardaí. Solicitor Suzanne Dunphy said her client was suffering from depression and had been on medication.
'She wasnt able to sleep or eat and she tells me now that she doesnt drive, she said.
Judge Harnett informed Ms Dunphy that it is not all about Ms Daley.
'Im not interested in self-indulging people who behave as she does and place other peoples lives at risk. It is only by chance and luck that she didnt kill a Garda or another motorist.