Motorist who injured off-duty paramedic in Louth jailed for dangerous driving
An off-duty paramedic who was driving home to Donegal for Christmas suffered a fractured ankle and an arterial bleed from her temple, when a car travelling in the opposite direction collided with her on the N33, Dundalk Circuit Court heard.
An off-duty paramedic who was driving home to Donegal for Christmas suffered a fractured ankle and an arterial bleed from her temple, when a car travelling in the opposite direction collided with her on the N33, Dundalk Circuit Court heard last week.
Mika Mafuta (27) of The Place, Semple Woods, Donabate, County Dublin pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm and driving without a driving licence at Charleville, on Christmas Eve 2024.
A further charge of driving without insurance was taken into consideration at the sentencing hearing.
Judge Dara Hayes was told last Wednesday that the victim was travelling home to Donegal from Kilkenny with a puppy as a Christmas present, when the car in front of her suddenly swerved onto the hard shoulder and she remembered hearing a loud bang and seeing the headlights of a car on her dashboard.
She came to in a hedge, with her car facing the direction she had been coming from.
The woman who had been driving in front, told gardaí she had pulled in as an oncoming car was veering towards her, as if the driver was asleep or distracted.
She saw the crash in her rear view mirror and went back and found the victim bleeding from her face and crying “Where is the puppy?”.
A garda found the pup seriously injured on a grass verge and it died a few minutes later.
The defendant was ‘panicky’ and asking if the people in the car were alright.
He failed a roadside breath test and the subsequent reading while very low, was almost twice the limit as a learner driver. The court heard he was driving his brother's car.
The defendant, an Irish citizen who is originally a Congolese national, has no previous convictions, has not come to garda attention since the collision and had €1,200 with him as a token of his remorse. The court was told the injured party would reluctantly accept the money.
In a victim impact statement read to the court on her behalf, the paramedic said her life has changed completely as a result of the collision. She required extensive medical treatment and had numerous hospital appointments and admissions. She also had to give up playing rugby.
Aside from reduced mobility, she now suffers from anxiety and has PTSD - particularly around driving and she is unable to drive after dark and while she has returned to work, it is currently in a non-patient facing role.
The Defence barrister stressed that his client, who was also injured in the collision, deeply regrets what happened.
Judge Hayes noted there was no evidence of excessive speed but it was clearly dangerous driving "to suddenly swerve onto the wrong side of the road".
He imposed a sentence of four years and three months, with the final six months suspended for the dangerous driving offence and an eight year disqualification and a three month concurrent sentence for driving without a licence.