A woman involved in a hit-and-run incident in Louth last year was identified by gardaí after leaving her car into a garage to be repaired.
A former GP and cyclist suffered serious injuries after being knocked off his bicycle on the R132 at Dromiskin on the evening of 6 January 2025.
Gagandeep Kaur, aged 38, with an address at Glenwood, Dundalk, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention causing serious bodily harm to Dr Sean Owens.
She also admitted to failing to stop the vehicle and offer medical assistance, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The court heard she had become distracted while driving and checking on her young daughter who was crying in the back seat.
Her car was recovered from a crash repair garage two days later after the owner alerted gardaí.
Dr Sean Owens gave a victim impact statement to Dundalk Circuit Court today, during the sentencing hearing for Gagandeep Kaur.
During the hearing, the court heard that on the evening in question, Dr Owens had left work in Castlebellingham and was cycling to a house call when he was struck by a car.
Garda Conor Hegarty said he attended the scene at around 6.45pm and found Dr Owens at the roadside, with a large laceration on the right of his head.
It appeared his ear had been severed in the collision.
Dr Owens had been travelling towards Dundalk when a vehicle hit him from behind and knocked him off his bike. The road was dry and the conditions were clear.
The court heard an advanced paramedic describing how his helmet was "shattered" and his bicycle was "mangled".
Garda Hegarty gathered evidence from the scene, including a Mercedes Benz badge found on the other side of the road.
Dr Owens was initially unconscious but was later alert at the scene, but after being brought to hospital his condition deteriorated, and he had to be transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.
The court heard a statement from a Consultant Neurosurgeon at Beaumont Hospital, outlining the extent of Dr Owens' injuries, including cervical spinal fractures which resulted in multiple strokes.
Dr Owens had to have emergency brain surgery.
The court heard that the day after the incident, Ms Kaur called her insurance company and requested a courtesy car.
She told them she had skidded on ice and crashed into a barrier.
On 8 January, the owner of a crash repair garage in Dundalk called gardaí after Ms Kaur brought her car in to be fixed.
She had told the garage the car hit a pole.
The owner noted the bumper and windscreen on the passenger side were damaged, and the Mercedes badge on the front was missing.
Ms Kaur was arrested the following day. She initially made no admissions, and said her car skidded in frosty conditions on a bendy road.
She then told gardaí she either hit a barrier or a brick wall.
In her second interview, she told gardaí she picked her daughter up from cr è che and was headed for Dundalk.
She said it was dark and she was driving with her lights on. She told them she looked down on her lap for a second and looked back, before there was a "big bang".
She said she saw the cyclist, and told gardaí he wasn't wearing a hi-vis jacket and wasn't lit up properly.
Ms Kaur told gardaí that she did not know what to do and she just kept driving.
She explained that her daughter was crying in the back of the car and she looked down.
When asked if she veered into the hard shoulder, she said she could not say, that she looked down and may have veered into the hard shoulder.
Ms Kaur told gardaí it was one lie that turned into 100 lies, because of panic and shock.
Garda Hegarty confirmed to Prosecution Counsel Steven Dixon that Dr Owens was wearing a hi-vis at at the time, and had lights on the front and rear of his bicycle.
In his victim impact statement to the court, Dr Owens described how he had to learn how to walk and talk again after the incident, and still has some slurred speech.
He said that this affects his interactions and how the world sees him.
Dr Owens said he has been left unable to work as a GP, and that has had an incredible financial impact on his family.
It was a role he worked hard for, having returned to college in his 30s to study.
He told the court that he missed his patients and colleagues, and said the fact that this was no longer his role in life was something he is still coming to terms with.
Dr Owens described cycling as being part of his identity, but it is something he can no longer do.
"This has had a massive impact on my day-to-day life", he said, adding that he had lost the ability to be fully independent.
"The accident left me unsure of my identity and left me without many things I love", he said.
"I am no longer a GP, a business partner, a cyclist," he said.
Dr Owens also described the impact the incident and his injuries have had on his family.
He thanked the people who stopped to help him that night, and said he had no doubt they had saved his life.
Dr Owens said navigating all of this has taken huge determination and effort, and he feels very grateful and lucky to be alive, and to have the love of his family and friends in the community.
Lawyers for Ms Kaur said she was a 38-year-old mother of one, and worked as an IT contractor for the HSE.
He said on the day in question, she was ending a long day's work, her young daughter was in her car, and she was momentarily distracted causing this catastrophic accident.
The court heard that the defendant had written a letter to Dr Owens, a part of which was read to the court.
It said the weight of what happened had not left her for a moment and the suffering and trauma he and his family had suffered was something she will not forgive herself for.
Her lawyer said she panicked and made very serious errors of judgement.
The case was adjourned for finalisation next month.
