Man jailed for driving car while 'steaming drunk' and killing truck driver

By David Raleigh

A Limerick father of five who was “steaming drunk” when he drove his car into a truck, killing the truck driver, has been jailed for seven years.

Niall O’Halloran (57) ploughed his Volkswagen Passat into the front of a lorry, killing the driver, Arturs Birznieks, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court had heard.

O’Halloran, of Woodfield Drive, Newcastle West, Co Limerick, continues to deny he was drunk and that he caused the fatal collision at N69, Reens East, Ardagh, Co Limerick, at 2.50am on March 18th, 2022.

Judge Simon McAleese imposed an eight-year prison sentence with the final 12 months suspended, plus a ten-year road ban, after O’Halloran’s conviction for dangerous driving causing the death of Berznieks.

The judge imposed a concurrent six-month sentence on O’Halloran after his drunk driving conviction.

O’Halloran had denied the two charges but was found guilty by a jury after a nine-day trial last March.

After the sentences were announced, O’Halloran shouted to his family, who were sitting in the courtroom to support him: “I’ll appeal that, that’s a fucking disgrace.”

In sentencing O’Halloran, the judge said: “Mr O’Halloran has not shown a single jot of remorse, and he appears to have gained no insight into his offending.”

Earlier, O’Halloran had shouted in court, “I did not”, when prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley gave a summary of the evidence that he had driven into the path of Birznieks' truck on the morning in question.

O’Halloran’s car struck the front of the truck on Birznieks' side, which “left Mr Birznieks helpless” as the steering was destroyed, said Buckley, instructed by Brendan Gill, State Solicitor for Co Limerick, assisted by paralegal Sarah Heavenor.

The truck then collided with a wall and was subsequently crushed by its own trailer, which had been carrying 6,000 live chickens.

Birznieks died instantly in the impact, and O’Halloran was cut from his car by emergency services and rushed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick (UHL) with serious injuries.

Paramedics and gardaí who had attended the scene gave statements of having smelled alcohol from O’Halloran’s breath and said he had been slurring his words.

An emergency medicine doctor at UHL, who treated O’Halloran, told gardaí he believed the defendant was drunk.

A blood sample taken from O’Halloran at the hospital showed he was three times over the legal limit, and most likely six times over the legal limit, closer to the time of the fatal collision.

O’Halloran told gardaí after his arrest that he had been drinking “shandys” (part beer, part soft drink) in the hours before the collision; however, he said he did not consider shandys to be alcoholic drinks.

O’Halloran still maintains that Birznieks' truck failed to take a bend properly in the moments before the fatal collision, and that the truck had veered over onto his side of the road.

O’Halloran suggested to gardaí that Birznieks could have been asleep or dead in the moments prior to the fatal collision.

Judge McAleese said O’Halloran attempted to “blame” the victim for the collision, which was an “atrocious and reprehensible” thing to do.

The court heard that, when gardaí asked O’Halloran, after his arrest, if he had any sympathy for the truck driver, he replied: “I have enough to deal with my own injuries.”

When gardaí put it to O’Halloran that he was drunk behind the wheel of his car at the time, he told them: “It’s irrelevant, it had nothing to do with it, I couldn't care less.”

When pressed on it by gardaí, he added: “That’s wrong, I did not cause his accident.”

O’Halloran’s car was sheared in half in the fatal collision. It was heard he had likely survived because he had been wearing a seat belt.

After his conviction last March, Judge Simon McAleese told O’Halloran: “Your driving and your drinking killed a man. Putting it politely, you seem to be in denial about your wrongdoing, your appalling, egregious, dreadful behaviour.”

Judge McAleese told O’Halloran his “drink-fueled dangerous driving” caused Birznieks' death and that his conduct had been “utterly inexcusable and deplorable”.

Buckley had told O’Halloran’s trial that he had been “steaming drunk” at the time and that he “couldn’t see straight” for the level of alcohol in his blood.

She said O’Halloran was “full of drink” when he drove into the path of Birznieks’ truck.

“Niall O’Halloran says he wasn’t drunk, he was; that has been proven,” added Ms Buckley.

The victim’s wife, Ina Birznieks, said her husband’s death “was an immense blow” to her as well as their two young daughters.

“He was not only a beloved husband but also a caring father. After his tragic death, our lives were changed forever,” Ms Birznieks said.

“Every day is filled with pain and grief,” she said.

“This tragedy has left a deep wound in our lives. Some things can never be restored or fixed,” she said.

O’Halloran had a prior conviction in 2011 for drink driving, and was given a three-year road ban and fined €400.