Driver jailed for ploughing into students walking home from a party in Louth

A 21 year old man who lost control of a car which ploughed into a group of foreign students walking home from a Halloween party, was jailed for two years and three months at Dundalk Circuit Court last week.

John Preda with an address at Clann Chulainn Park, Farndreg estate, Dundalk pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm on Hill Street, Dundalk on October 27th 2023.

The five young women in their 20s, who were attending Dundalk Institute of Technology as ERASMUS students from France and Spain, were walking back to their accommodation around 1.30am when a car came towards them at high speed on the wrong side of the road.

Four of them were thrown in the air. The fifth escaped being hit after jumping out of the way.

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An off-duty member of the Garda Roads Policing Unit, who lives nearby and responded on hearing the screeching of brakes and a loud bang, found two of the students wedged into a bush at a wall calling for help.

One of the others, who sustained multiple fractures and had neurological injuries, spent 80 days in hospital and had to learn to walk again. 

The court heard a surgeon had phoned her parents in Paris and told them to come here as quickly as possible.

She was required to lie flat for several weeks due to concerns about paralysis and was required not to stimulate her brain - including reading or watching television.

Another, who could not walk for five days, told how her parents in Spain had woken to messages telling them she was in hospital.

A third victim told in her victim impact statement, how powerless she felt not knowing if her friends were dead, alive or dying.

Another outlined how loud noises trigger panic attacks.

In a letter to the court, read by his Senior Counsel, Mr. Preda apologised to the students, especially to the two who were most badly hurt and said he had made a terrible mistake by speeding and won't make the same mistake again.

in finalising the matter last Tuesday, Judge Dara Hayes noted the off-duty member of the RPU had found the car straddling both lanes, with the front passenger side wheel completely dislodged from it.

The car was well maintained and there were no defects which contributed to the defendant losing control.

Judge Hayes, who said it must've been shocking and frightening news for the victims' parents to receive, noted the defendant, a novice driver, had given a breath specimen four and a half times the limit applicable to him as a specified driver and his driving was clearly dangerous.  

He said that speed and alcohol were an aggravating factor, but there was no evidence of a permanent disability and the defendant had not come to further adverse gara attention

He imposed a four year sentence with the final 24 months suspended on Mr Preda entering a good behaviour bond, and disqualified him from driving for five years and until the production of a certificate of competence.