A 33-year-old man, who hijacked a car with a three-year-old boy and then abandoned him on an isolated country road in freezing temperatures, has been given a five-year jail term.
Limerick Circuit Court heard that the boy and his family had been put through an extremely traumatic and horrific ordeal.
Noel Price of Kileely Road in Co Limerick hijacked a car outside a shop on the Old Cratloe Road on the morning of 20 January.
Three children were in the back of the car.
A nine-year-old boy managed to get out and his 12-year-old sister was injured as she fell out while Price drove the car away.
Their three-year-old brother was still in the back of the car as the accused man took off. He eventually abandoned the boy on the side of a country road.
The temperature was -4C that morning.
The child was found a short time later by members of his family who had pursued Price.
He was then pursued by gardaí in the Regional Armed Support Unit as he drove at high speed on a number of country roads near the village of Meelick.
He drove recklessly at gardaí a number of times, who had to fire a number of shots.
Price was eventually arrested and was described as completely out of it on drink and drugs. He said he did not remember many of the events that lead to his arrest.
He pleaded guilty to a number of charges of reckless endangerment, to false imprisonment and to assault.
Passing sentence at Limerick Circuit Court, Judge Carroll Moran said this was one of the worse cases of car hijacking he had ever come across.
Justice Moran referred to the horror experienced by the mother of the little boy who was abandoned and the fact that Price had driven recklessly at high speed on icy roads through villages where parents were dropping their children to school.
He said it was by the grace of God that nobody was killed.
He praised the efforts of the gardaí for their very quick response to the incident.
The court heard that Price had a number of previous convictions, including a ten-year sentence for an arson attack.
Judge Moran imposed a seven-year sentence on Price, suspending the last two years and banned him from driving for 20 years.
