A drunk driver, who was sentenced to community service after he killed an elderly pedestrian and injured two gardaí, has been jailed for two years following an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The Court of Criminal Appeal found the original sentence imposed on 40-year-old Adrian Nestor, from Keamsella, Kilcolgan, Co Galway, was too lenient.
He was five times over the legal limit for alcohol when he crashed into a garda car near Ardrahan in Galway in the early hours of 1 February 2016.
He had been drinking in two pubs and at a wake between 7.30pm and midnight before the crash.
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66-year-old Liam McDonnell had gone missing from a nursing home in the area the previous night but two gardaí had found him and were trying to get him into the patrol car when an Audi, driven by Nestor, hit all three of them.
Mr McDonnell was killed, Garda Sharon Casserly sustained life changing injuries and Garda Peter Murtagh's leg was broken.
Nestor pleaded guilty to the charges and Judge Rory McCabe at Galway Circuit Court said the interests of justice would not be served by sending him to prison.
Mr O’Donnell's ex-wife said jailing Nestor would not bring him back and Judge McCabe sentenced him to 240 hours community service, fined him €1,000 and banned him from driving for four years.
The Director of Public Prosecutions successfully sought a review of Nestor's sentence on grounds that it was "unduly lenient".
She submitted that it failed to meet the seriousness of the case and failed to meet the need for general deterrence - to send a message out to the wider public that society condemns this kind of behaviour.
The Court of Appeal agreed, found the sentencing judge had erred, and re-sentenced Adrian Nestor to four years in prison with the final two years suspended.
