Uninsured driver who knocked down and killed cyclist has sentence increased
An uninsured driver who knocked down and killed a cyclist after breaking a red light in Dublin will have to spend an extra nine months in prison.
Christopher Coleman was jailed for two and a half years for dangerous driving causing the death of 62-year-old Eugene Maher in June 2015.
But the Court of Appeal re-sentenced him today after deciding the original sentence was unduly lenient given the aggravating factors in the case.
The 27-year-old of Reuben Street, Dublin 8 was handed a fresh sentence of six years in prison with the final two years and nine months suspended.
Speaking outside court afterwards, Eugene’s daughter Lisa Maher called for stricter penalties to be introduced.
“It’s not careless driving and it’s not dangerous driving. The severity of these sentences needs to be changed. It needs to be vehicular manslaughter.
“It’s as bad as going out and killing someone by hand, with a gun or by a fist. My dad was killed by a car and it doesn’t seem to be taken as seriously as we would like.”
