Meath man may escape prison for knocking elderly woman down
A Meath man who killed a 77-year-old woman when he knocked her down as she was crossing the road, may avoid a jail term at his sentencing today.
Carl Feighery - with an address at Millbourne Crescent, Ashbourne - pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing death in January 2013.
77-year-old Rose Douglas died after she was knocked down by a car on the North Road, in Finglas in Dublin on a January morning two years ago.
She had left the house to collect charity boxes for the hospice from a local garage, and had told her husband she was just popping out for a minute.
An eyewitness gave evidence that the driver of the car, electrician Carl Feighery, appeared not to have seen a set of traffic lights and had driven through the red light.
Judge Martin Nolan could find no aggravating factors, like drink driving or speeding, and said the father of two was "guilty of losing focus" which he described as a "human frailty".
He disqualified the 32-year-old from driving for five years and indicated that when the case returns to court today he may impose community service rather than a custodial sentence.
