A 21-year-old man who knocked down and killed a student at a bus stop in Limerick two years ago has had his sentence increased by five years by the Court of Appeal.
The DPP had appealed the leniency of the original sentence handed down to Kieran Fogarty of Hyde Road, Limerick who earlier this year received a six-and-a-half year sentence for dangerous driving causing the death of Joe Drennan in October 2023.
He was also given an eight-year sentence for a drive-by shooting in June of the same year but the lower court ruled those sentences could be served at the same time.
Fogarty had been on bail at the time of the crash for other offences, a condition of which was that he was forbidden to drive.
There were also five warrants out for his arrest.
Today the three judge Court of Appeal agreed that the sentence imposed for the dangerous driving was not proportionate to the offending.
The court resentenced Fogarty for a range of offences and ruled the sentence for dangerous driving causing death should be increased by two years with the final year suspended and served consecutively to the sentence for the firearms offence which was reduced by a year.
It means Fogarty is now jailed for a total of 13 years instead of eight.
He is also disqualified from driving for 20 years upon his release. The driving ban will begin after his release from prison.
Watch: 'Some measure of justice' done for Joe, say Drennan family
Afterwards the Drennan family said the new sentence finally reflected "some measure of justice for Joe".
Outside court Joe Drennan's sister Sarah said "nothing could ever bring him back but this acknowledges that his life mattered and that what happened was not an accident or mistake but a deliberate act of recklessness and criminal behaviour that took his young beautiful life.
"The decision finally shows accountability for what was done," she said.
"Joe is everything you could have hoped for a brother, son and friend to be. He was kind, funny, compassionate and full of promise. He desrved to live a long and happy life."
She added: "Joe and our family deserve the justice that reflected that. We will carry this grief forever. He is missed every single day but today's decision gives small sense of peace knowing that Joe's voice is finally heard."
The appeal court had earlier been shown CCTV footage of Fogarty's driving on the night and of the 14 seconds he spent in the car after the collision before he fled the scene.
Gardaí told the court he had used those 14 seconds to clean down the car to remove any potential forensic evidence.
Joe Drennan, from Mountrath, Co Laois, was a fourth year journalism student at UL.
He had just celebrated his 21st birthday and had been appointed Editor of the Limerick Voice student newspaper.
He was standing at the bus stop on the Dublin Road that night after working a shift at a local Italian restaurant, when he was struck by Fogarty's car which had been driving at 122km/h at the time.
Limerick Circuit Court was shown CCTV footage which captured Fogarty driving at speed in the Castletroy area shortly before the incident.
CCTV captured by the bus which Mr Drennan was waiting for, shows Fogarty emerging from the car and fleeing from the scene 14 seconds after the collision.
The BMW car had spun several times before hitting Mr Drennan, who was standing beside a wall at the bus shop shortly before 10pm that night.
Evidence of a series of text and voice messages shared by the accused man later that night and in the days which followed in which he makes reference to the collision and hitting someone, which were also shown again at the Court of Appeal today.
The court heard he also shared press footage of the incident which emerged the day after the collision.
However, he continued to insist later to gardaí that he did not know the victim had been hit and left under his car.
He later pleaded guilty.
