A mother-of-three has been jailed for four years for causing the death of Patrick Murphy (68) in a hit-and-run collision in September 2023.
Jade Moriarty (29), Munigaphuca, Killorglin, was before Tralee Circuit Criminal Court for sentence last week, having pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing death on September 3, 2023.
Moriarty had spent the night before the collision at a birthday party, drinking up to a dozen vodkas in her local pub in Killorglin before carrying on to a house party.
She was found to be nine times over the legal alcohol limit, driving unaccompanied on a provisional licence, uninsured in her boyfriend’s van and failed to remain at the scene after she struck Mr Murphy (pictured) on his bike.
Such was the impact of the collision that Mr Murphy was thrown eight metres off his bike, over a wall and left for dead inside a garden. Moriarty left the scene and then crashed into a ditch about 2.5km away.
Garda Donnacha O’Brien established that Moriarty had attended an 18th birthday party in Killorglin the previous night and was seen on CCTV drinking at least 10 or 11 vodkas.
She and her boyfriend, Luke Burke, joined friends at a house, where the drinking continued. The couple had a ‘falling out’, the court heard, and the accused woman’s boyfriend left the house.
At around 6.30am, the accused called her boyfriend’s brother to pick her up and drop her to her boyfriend’s house. When she arrived at the house, her boyfriend was not present, and she tried to text and call him. She then took the keys to his Ford van and began to drive and look for him.
Patrick Murphy had just left his home in Cromane to go for his Sunday morning cycle. He was wearing a high-vis vest.
He had gone about 250 metres when he was struck from behind by the van driven by the accused and thrown from his bike.
Moriarty did not remain at the scene, drove on for 2.5km and crashed into a ditch.
Locals called the emergency services, but attempts to keep Mr Murphy alive were unsuccessful, and CPR ceased at around 9.30am.
Gardaí found that ratchet straps had been attached to the crashed van in preparation to have it pulled from the ditch. However, there was nobody present at the vehicle. Moriarty was later arrested at her home and was breathalysed shortly before 11am.
Analysis of a blood sample taken at the Garda station showed her to have a concentration of 197mgs of
alcohol per 100mls of blood. The legal limit for a provisional driver was 22mgs of alcohol per 100mls of blood.
Moriarty told gardaí she had no memory of striking anybody but recalled crashing into the ditch.
Defence barrister Donal O’Sullivan SC told Judge Ronan Munro that his client accepts everything. She was 28 years old at the time and “broke down in disbelief when told what she had done.”
He said that Moriarty was never in trouble before, comes from a good background and has three young children, the youngest of whom is just over five months old.
He said that his client had entered a signed guilty plea to the charges at the earliest possible opportunity.
“She made a terrible, terrible, terrible mistake, not just by colliding with Mr Murphy, but then leaving the scene,” he said. “She knows where she is going for this. She’s a human being, and she knows she has done wrong.”
A sense of grief and anger evident in the courtroom
Jailing Moriarty, Judge Munro said the sense of grief and anger was evident in the courtroom. He said it was hard to fathom what she had done.
Powerful and poignant Victim Impact Statements were delivered by Patrick Murphy’s niece, Josephine Delaney, his nephew, Brendan Cronin, and his wife, Jackie.
Jackie said that the love of her life had gone for a cycle, and never came home. She said: “I’ll never get to look into Pat’s beautiful blue eyes ever again. To me, my husband was one in a million.”
She said all that the family has left are an ’empty space’ and ‘shattered dreams’. “My husband was killed that morning and left to die alone as if he were nothing,” she said in her victim impact statement, delivered in person in the court.
“That’s the day that Pat became just another statistic, but Pat wasn’t just a statistic – he was a brother, an uncle and a granduncle, but most of all, he was my husband,” she said.
“I identified my husband’s body at the scene, and it’s an image that will be forever etched in my brain,” she said. “I wasn’t allowed to hold my husband’s hand, kiss him or hug him – because my husband had become a crime scene.
“The months that followed are hazy. The empty chair is still how Pat left it, with his cushion on it. His clothes are still in the wardrobe where he left them, somehow stuck in time because that’s where I’m stuck,” said Jackie.
“I never wanted to leave 2023, because it meant leaving Pat behind. I didn’t want to move forward because moving forward meant moving ahead without the one person that made my life magical.”
“I’ll never get to talk to Pat but most of all, I’ll never get a response from him. I’ll never get to look into Pat’s beautiful blue eyes ever again. I’ll never see that cheeky grin or the way Pat’s eyes sparkled when he laughed.” she said.
“I had at times wished that I was dead too so I could be with Pat. The only thing I got up for in the morning was our dog Buster. Life seemed pointless without Pat.”
“Every day since September 3rd 2023, I’ve had to face the empty chair where Pat always sat, the empty space beside me at night, the missing hand that no longer holds mine or reaches for mine, the daily hug that seemed to say that everything would be ok, now is gone,” she said.
Jackie said: “No kiss goodnight and never hearing ‘I love you’ ever again. No amount of words could ever describe the person we’ve all lost, the husband that I’ve lost. All that’s left are the shattered dreams we had.”
Ms Murphy told the court that since Pat’s death, she has been struggling physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.
Jackie added: “I didn’t just lose my husband, I lost all the tomorrows that I’ll never have. I’ve lost the chance to grow old with the only man I have ever loved. The warmth of that hand that always held mine is gone. The life we had and would have had will never be. A house that was full of laughter is now filled with silence.
Josephine Delaney said: “Everyone that knew Pat had nothing but good words to say about him… The anger is fuelled and I’m sure I speak on behalf of all of our family, not just me, by the fact that there has been no remorse shown by the defendant throughout this process.”
“Life for her seems to be carrying on as normal from our perspective… Posts on social media about passing her driving test and posts wishing her luck and safe driving etc can only but rub salt in our wounds,” she said.
Ms Delaney added: “I can’t help but feel it’s of the utmost disrespect shown to our family to be seeing such material on social media.”
Brendan Cronin said that his uncle’s death was met with shock and sadness throughout Kerry and further afield.
Mr Cronin said: “There has been no remorse shown whatsoever by the defendant,” he said. “From the moment the accident occurred, the defendant did her best to cover up, lie and carry on as if nothing had ever happened.
“The selfish actions of the defendant from the 3rd of September 2023 has had devastating consequences for all of Pat’s family and friends,” he added.
“Defendant took charge of a lethal weapon and put everyone in her path at risk“
Judge Munro described the case as one of ‘culpable homicide’.
At the outset, he directly addressed Pat Murphy’s family, offered his condolences and said that any sentence imposed cannot and should not be taken as a measure of Pat Murphy’s life. He said Jade Moriarty was well in excess of the highest drink driving limit, and “it is hard to fathom what she did.”
He said: “This is not a murder or a manslaughter case, although it may feel like that to Mr Murphy’s family.”
Judge Munro remarked that a custodial sentence will have an added impact on a person of previous good character, who was never in prison before and who has three young children.
“The shrapnel from this case goes far and wide, but there is only one perpetrator – and that is Jade Moriarty,” he said.
The aggravating factors were that Moriarty was way over the limit, left the scene, and it was a hit-and-run case.
Judge Munro added: “A vehicle is a lethal weapon. The defendant took charge of a lethal weapon and put everyone in her path at risk.”
He set the headline sentence at seven years but reduced it to four years and eight months, as required by law, given the signed and early guilty plea. He then suspended the final eight months on condition that she be of good behaviour for six years, and banned her from driving for eight years.
This article was provided compliments of the Kerry’s Eye newspaper, where this article was first published.