Man faces road rage attack sentence
A motorist will be sentenced today for the manslaughter of a British man in a road rage attack.
Construction worker Raymond Bates died in hospital four days after being beaten around the head with a hurley in a south Dublin suburb on September 26, 2010.
The victim, a father-of-three from Peterlee, Co Durham, had been working in Ireland as a quality control inspector on a gas pipeline at the time of the attack.
Karl Donohoe, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, will appear before the Central Criminal Court in Dublin for sentencing – which can vary from a fine or a suspended sentence up to life imprisonment in exceptional circumstances.
Mr Justice Paul Carney last week heard Mr Bates, 49, had drunk up to 10 pints of Guinness in a pub before getting behind the wheel of his Mitsubishi Pajero and began tailgating and flashing Donohoe, who was travelling with his 18-month-old daughter and a friend.
Donohoe stopped and both drivers got out of their cars and argued on the street, with Mr Bates swearing at Donohoe before both men drove off.
The victim then overtook Donohoe’s Toyota Rav 4 and mounted a central island before cutting in on the Dublin man, who later claimed he feared he was going to be rammed off the road.
Shocked witnesses said Donohoe looked possessed as he took a hurley from the boot of his car and hit the Mitsubishi Pajero which blocked his path, and then hit Mr Bates several times when he got out of the car, including a fatal blow to the left temple as he lay defenceless on the ground.
Both men drove away from the scene at the junction of Sandymount Road and Tritonville Road on September 26, 2010.
Mr Bates’s widow Brenda sobbed uncontrollably in court as it emerged her husband, a haemophiliac, was rushed to hospital the next day and fell into a coma. He died on September 30.
Mrs Bates – who had to be treated for post traumatic stress disorder – said the her husband’s death has killed their family.
Donohoe was initially charged with assault causing harm and then murder, before the prosecution accepted a guilty plea to manslaughter in February.
The crane worker from Tyrellstown, west Dublin, has apologise to the Bates family for the attack, which he said was out of character and happened in a moment of madness.
