L-driver admits dangerous driving that killed tourist
Laura Jones was on first day of holiday
A YOUNG unaccompanied learner driver is to be sentenced for causing a fatal collision in Laois when an American tourist was killed on the first day of her holiday in Ireland.
Jamie Kearns, 20, pleaded guilty at a Portlaoise Circuit Criminal Court to a charge of dangerous driving causing the death of Laura Jones, 59, near the Rock of Dunamase off the main Portlaoise-Stradbally road on October 7, 2022.
Kearns, a construction labourer from Cosby Avenue, Portlaoise, Co. Laois, also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of dangerous driving causing serious harm to the victim’s husband, Doug Jones, during the same incident which occurred around 1.15pm.
Judge Keenan Johnson suggested that the speed limit on the narrow road where the accident happened should be reduced to 30kph after hearing evidence from a garda that its current limit of 80kph is ‘inappropriate’ as well as a lower limit of 50kph.
Sergeant Catherine Kelliher told a hearing yesterday that the couple from Parker, Colorado, had arrived in Dublin Airport earlier that day and decided to stop off at the Rock of Dunamase on the way to the southwest.
Sgt Kelliher said the couple were accompanied by their younger daughter, Erin and her husband, Jacob, who had gone ahead of them after they had parked their vehicle at a car park near the well-known tourist site.
She told barrister Will Fennelly for the DPP, that the group recalled hearing a car driving fast before seeing it coming towards them and going completely out of control at high speed.
The court heard that a 09-registered Ford Fiesta driven by Kearns knocked the victim and her husband over a wall before crashing into the wall itself.
Sgt Kelliher said a large portion of the wall also fell on Ms Jones who was rendered unconscious from the collision, while her husband suffered serious leg injuries and required surgery at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore
later that evening.
The witness said Ms Jones suffered internal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene despite efforts to resuscitate her.
The court heard that the defendant had been out with three friends in a vehicle that he had bought two weeks earlier.
Sgt Kelliher confirmed that Kearns was on a provisional driving licence and was not accompanied by a fully qualified driver at the time of the fatal crash.
She said the three other occupants of the car had told gardaí that the accused had been driving too fast and they were asking him to slow down.
The court heard Kearns remained at the scene and helped remove some of the debris away from the victim.
He told gardaí during a series of interviews that he was driving at 40-45kph before the accident and had slowed down to 20-25kph after seeing pedestrians and vehicles to his right after coming over a brow of a hill.
Counsel for Kearns, barrister Conor Devally said his client wished to convey his ‘overwhelming sorrow’ to his victim’s family for what he had done.
Mr Devally pointed out that the Garda investigation had shown that the defendant had no alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the crash and had not been using his mobile phone.
In a victim impact statement read out on his behalf by Garda Andrea Byrne, Mr Jones said his family had suffered ‘overwhelming emotional pain’ as a result of what he described as ‘a careless, reckless, selfish and stupid act’.
‘Our lives were changed forever,’ he said.
He expressed regret at not being able to celebrate his 30th wedding anniversary with his wife a few months later and how she had also missed the wedding of their older daughter, Elizabeth.
Mr Jones also expressed dismay that his other daughter had witnessed her mother’s death, while he had suffered injuries which his doctors were unsure would ever fully heal.
Judge Johnson offered his sympathy to the Jones family for experiencing ‘such an unspeakable tragedy’ just after they had arrived in Ireland for a holiday. He remanded Kearns on continuing bail and adjourned sentencing in the case until later this week.
‘Our lives were changed forever’