Man (74) awaits sentencing on hit-and-run incident which led to doctor's death

A 74-year-old motorist had sentencing adjourned yesterday until February on hit-and-run charges arising out of a road traffic collision resulting in the death of consultant psychiatrist Dr Martin Lawlor in December 2018.

The case was scheduled for sentencing yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

However, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin was told that a member of the family of the deceased could not attend yesterday to give victim impact evidence because of a recent bereavement in the UK.

Judge Ó Donnabháin agreed to adjourn sentencing until February 3 2021.

Denis McSweeney of 206 Pouaduff Road, Ballyphehane, Cork, previously four charges related to hit and run, namely failing to give appropriate information to gardaí, failing to keep the vehicle at or near the occurrence, failing to report an occurrence and failing to stop his vehicle after an occurrence.

All four charges refer to the death of the 49-year-old psychiatrist. 

The first count states that on December 15, 2018 at Kinsale Road, Cork, being the driver of a vehicle, with a 151 registration, which was involved in the occurrence of a road traffic collision that resulted in the death of Martin Lawlor, did fail to give on-demand appropriate information to An Garda Síochána.

The deceased was a consultant psychiatrist at Carrig Mór psychiatric intensive care unit at Shanakiel, Cork.

Det. Garda Brid Norris testified at the inquest that Dr Lawlor was walking up the Airport Road in Cork after 5am on December 15th, 2018 when he was hit by a car.

A native of Tralee in Co Kerry, Dr Lawlor worked in Cork with HSE South and had been Director of the Centre for Recovery and Social Inclusion (CRSI) in Cork since 2006 and the programme lead on the State of Mind Ireland project.

Dr Lawlor and his wife, Helen, who is a native of Millstreet in County Cork, lived in Manchester with their three children.