A drunk female driver had her two young children with her and an open bottle of wine on the passenger seat when she crashed her car into and killed ‘gifted’ teacher and cyclist Michael Lorigan, a court has heard.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford has imposed a five year prison term suspending the final six months on Saoirse Lillis McMahon (33) for the dangerous driving causing death of Michael Lorigan (70) on August 16th 2023 on the N67 at Baunmore, Kilkee in west Clare.
Judge Comerford also imposed a seven year driving ban on Ms Lillis McMahon of Moveen East, Kilkee who was driving under the influence of alcohol and had a ‘cocktail’ of drugs in her system, including cocaine.
During the sentencing hearing, Ms Lillis McMahon wept as the circumstances around the crash were laid out and during four victim impact statements read out to the court.
Imposing sentence, Judge Comerford said that Ms Lillis McMahon was driving the car “when she was completely unfit to drive and posed a real danger to anyone that she came across”.
Judge Comerford said that Ms Lillis McMahon posed “a very real danger” to her two boys, aged 6 and 9 at the time, who were passengers in the car, due to the intoxicants that she had taken.
Mr Lorigan was coming towards the end of a 55 mile cycle and was just five miles away from meeting his wife, Dympna in Kilkee where the two planned to celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary.
In one of a number of heart-rendering victim impact statements read out in court, Dympna said that she passed Michael out in her car at 12.15pm on the day on her way to Kilkee and she commented “that was the last time I saw him alive”.
Ten minutes later, local Gardai received a call from a motorist of a car driving erratically on the N67 and Gardai despatched a car to the area.
However, before Gardai arrived, the same motorist phoned Gardai again to see that she had just witnessed that same blue Vauxhall Astra car crash into a cyclist.
In evidence, Garda Noreen King told the court that Ms Lillis McMahon’s car struck Mr Lorigan’s bicycle from behind as the two were both heading towards Kilkee.
Garda King said that motorists had witnessed Ms Lillis McMahon’s car swerving across the road before impact. Garda King said that conditions for driving were good on the day and Ms Lillis McMahon struck Mr Lorigan on a long straight stretch of road.
Mr Lorigan – who spent his entire teaching career in The Modh Scoil in Limerick and lived in Kilkishen, Co Clare – was wearing a helmet and counsel for the State, Sarah Jane Comerford BL (instructed by State Solicitor for Co Clare, Aisling Casey) said that a post mortem found that Mr Lorigan died from blunt force injuries to the neck and head.
Mr Lorigan was pronounced dead at the scene.
Garda King said that Ms Lillis McMahon and her two children were all visibly upset at the scene.
Garda King said that an open bottle of wine was observed on the front passenger seat of Ms Lillis McMahon’s car.
Ms Comerford said that Ms Lillis McMahon was unsteady on her feet and was cautioned immediately due to the strong smell of alcohol.
Ms Comerford said that Ms Lillis McMahon subsequently failed a test for alcohol where she showed a 93mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine – the legal limit is 67mg of alcohol and she was 50pc over the legal limit.
Garda crash scene investigator, Garda Brendan Condon found that Ms Lillis McMahon was driving at a speed of between 81kmph and 99 kmph before impact and did not brake before impact.
The report by Garda Condon found that the car was dangerously defective. The speed limit for that stretch of road was 100km ph.
Garda King said that after caution Ms Lillis McMahon said “I cannot believe that I have killed a man’.
Ms Lillis McMahon had stayed with a friend the previous night in Crusheen where there were some drugs taken.
At Garda interview, Ms Lillis McMahon expressed remorse and said that she thought of Mr Lorigan’s wife all the time
She said: “I am sorry it happened – the night before wasn’t planned at all. I had my kids with me. It shouldn’t have happened. I think about his wife all the time
“I am so sorry. I felt really guilty just walking after it happened. I haven’t left the house in months – I didn’t want to drive the car that morning but I knew that I had to leave that house.
Counsel for Ms Lillis McMahon, Lorcan Connolly SC (instructed by solicitor John Casey) said that his client wants to acknowledge “the profound and irreversible loss suffered by Mr Lorigan’s wife, family, friends and wider community”.
Mr Connolly said that Mr Lorigan “was a gifted person and his loss is enormous” and he was completely and utterly blameless for what happened on the day.
He said that “in a heartbeat the accused would switch places”.
Mr Connolly said that Ms Lillis McMahon “won’t be able to forgive herself and she will continue to live with shame and regret”.
He said that she has lost custody of her children, lost her job and lives in isolation from her community. He said that she had a history of mental health difficulties.
The court was told that Ms Lillis McMahon was uninsured to drive the Vauxhall Astra and was disqualified from driving on the day but that disqualification was subsequently overturned on appeal.
Imposing sentence, Judge Comerford said that imposed a headline 96 month prison term and reduced it to 60 months due to Ms Lillis McMahon’s early plea of guilty and remorse.
Judge Comerford suspended the final six months on condition that she co-operate with the Probation Service after the service stated that it can intervene with her problematic drink and drug taking.
Addressing Dympna Lorigan and members of the Lorigan family, Judge Comerford said “no matter what sentence I select I can’t undo the harm that is done”.
Judge Comerford noted that last Sunday would have been Mr Lorigan’s 73 birthday and should have been a day of celebration for the Lorigan family.
Ms Lillis McMahon wept as she was led away out of the courtroom by prison officers to commence her sentence.
The widow of Michael Lorigan has told a court that her late husband “endured an undeserved, senseless and tragic death”.
Recalling August 16th 2023 at Ennis Circuit Court, Dympna Lorigan said: “Michael and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary on that day and we had planned on spending the day together in west Clare.
In her victim impact statement, she said: “It was a sunny morning and Michael decided to cycle to Kilkee and I was to meet him there. I passed him on the road about five miles from Kilkee at 12.15 approximately and he had cycled over fifty miles at that stage. That was the last time I saw him alive.
“Michael, my soulmate, life partner, and the person who knew me best and accepted me as I am, needlessly and cruelly lost his life. He endured an undeserved, senseless and tragic death. He was fit and well, had a lot more living to do but he was unjustifiably denied that.
“Michael was a unique individual, full of life and a force of nature in the most positive sense. He encouraged me to be brave, to face difficulties and to be resilient. He was a good, caring person and never wasted time. He spent so much of his life creating, making, thinking imaginatively and solving problems.
“He had a dynamic, energetic personality, had a heightened sense of fun, was personable with a quick witted sense of humour. He was generous with his time and always had time for others, especially his sisters and his family. Michael had an all-consuming interest in his well-being, keeping fit and healthy.
“He exercised and cycled almost every day and had more than thirty years experience of cycling on the roads. He was a careful cyclist, didn’t take chances, respected the rules of the road and was always vigilant. He was enjoying and embracing retirement, having time for himself and the pursuits he loved. He was cheated out of this precious time of his life.
“But now I have to face life on my own and that is so very daunting. The heartbeat and soul of the home Michael and I built together is gone forever. It is just a place to live now. There is an emptiness there that I never experienced before, a sense of emotional isolation, part of the legacy of trauma suffered.
“We took our vows on the 16th August 1984 and since then we were fully committed to each other. We complemented each other in character, had complete trust in each other and shared innermost thoughts and emotions. We had a fulfilled, happy life together that ended far too soon.
“Both retired, we were enjoying our time together before it was suddenly and brutally ended without warning and with a devastating finality. No words can describe the emotions I felt on that fateful day in August 2023 when the world I knew came crashing down. Distress, disbelief, shock, anguish, extreme grief, intense sadness are just a few.
“Michael and I faced many challenges and got through them by leaning on each other’s strengths. Now I’m faced with my biggest challenge yet and I don’t have him with me to share the burden. I steel myself every morning to face each day as best I can without him. I miss him, his grounding presence, his unconditional love and support, his reassuring voice, his smile, his sense of fun, his laugh, his mischievous grin, his comforting embrace.
“All these and much more have been taken from me. I feel sad and lonely without him but he is in my heart forever inspiring me to be brave and to carry on as best I can.”
Mr Lorigan’s sister, Patricia Neylon told the court that “Michael was, up to the day he died, an elite athlete. He trained in his home gym for 90 mins every morning – running, cycling, lifting weights. Then, at least four days a week, he cycled a minimum of 70km in the afternoon. He boasted to us all that most years he had more mileage up on his beloved Bianci bike than on his car.
She said: “He never smoked and his diet was exemplary. He was a huge positive influence on all of us in our family and among his friends. But he was not a boring old man – he was the life and soul of any party – a brilliant raconteur with a great sense of humour and fun.
She added: “It is difficult to put into words the annihilation of positivity his violent, tragic death has brought upon us, his family. We had texted him that morning wishing him and Dympna a happy 39th wedding anniversary. It was a lovely, sunny, calm August day – a perfect cycling day. When Dympna arrived at my door later that afternoon accompanied by 2 Gardai to tell me Michael had been killed at Baunmore, Lisdeen – only 5 or 6km from his destination, Kilkee – my world, as I knew it up to then, changed irrevocably. The awful finality of the news still lingers.
“The only word that describes our feelings at his loss is that we are “bereft”. He was the first person one could call on if in need.
Mrs Neylon said: “In short Michael lived a life straight out of any of the best “self help” books out there and he was totally content with his life ….until Aug 16th 2023.
“The saddest aspect of all this is that nothing and nobody can give us back what we have lost – our loving, witty, talented, fit and healthy husband, brother, brother in law, uncle, cousin and friend.
“That such a life can be so cruelly and carelessly obliterated is impossible to accept.
In her own victim impact, another sister, Jean Lorigan recalled her last phone call on August 15th 2023 when Michael’s last words to her “you know my darling I am there for you if you need anything.”
She said: “That was my Mike, he was my confidant, adviser, and the person I trusted most in this world, my funny darling loving brother.
Ms Lorigan said: “His loss to me can’t be verbalized, I miss him so much, he is in my mind continually but now I feel so vulnerable without him. I miss his physical presence, his guidance, council and his total unconditional love for me.
“I have begun to detest Sundays, they are long sad empty days, I miss our daily phone calls and our chats. I feel now that a large part of me has died with him, my life is so bereft without him. The manner of his death is so hard to take, I hope to God he didn’t suffer in any way. He and Dympna deserved so many more happy years together.
“My consolation is that I was so privileged to have my darling brother Mike in my life, and in my heart he will always be.”
