A 43-year-old mother of one has been sentenced to 15 months in jail, after she pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of a man in Cork last October.
Kseniia Vasylenko had fled the war in Ukraine with her son and arrived in Cork a year before the fatal collision. She joined her mother, who was already in the city.
Vasylenko had been charged with dangerous driving causing the death of 49-year-old Andrii Nesterov at Cork Airport on 8 October 2023.
Mr Nesterov was also Ukrainian and both had an address at the Cork Airport Hotel.
Last month, at the Circuit Criminal Court in Cork, prosecuting barrister Donal O'Sullivan said that a plea to a lesser charge of careless driving rather than dangerous driving causing death was acceptable to the State.
Sentencing Vasylenko at the Circuit Criminal Court in Cork this morning, Judge Helen Boyle said both she and Mr Nesterov had been drinking heavily.
She said Vasylenko accepted she was driving and that she was intoxicated at the time. She said she had accepted responsibility for what had happened.
'Significant aggravating factor'
Judge Boyle said Vasylenko's intoxication was a significant aggravating factor in the case.
She said she had read a very eloquent victim impact statement written by Mr Nesterov's wife, Kateryna, who lives in Poland.
"It is apparent that this has had a devastating impact on the whole family," Judge Boyle said.
She noted that Mr Nesterov had a son around the same age as Vasylenko's son.
"His family, like yours, was torn apart by the war in Ukraine," Judge Boyle said.
She said she accepted Vasylenko was remorseful and that she had no previous convictions.
She set the headline sentence at two years in jail, and suspended the final nine months of that to give Vasylenko credit for her early guilty plea and for other mitigating factors.
The sentence was backdated to last October, when Vasylenko first went into custody and she was also disqualified from driving for eight years.
Judge Boyle also praised investigating gardaí and said they should be commended for conducting a thorough investigation. She said swift and detailed detective work had resulted in dashcam footage being secured in this case. The had captured the collision and the time immediately before and afterwards.
Evidence at Vasylenko's sentencing hearing was heard on Friday.
Detective Garda Gary Brennan told the court an ambulance was called to the Cork Airport Hotel in the early hours of 8 October last year. He said when ambulance personnel arrived, they observed that Mr Nesterov had blood coming from his mouth and ear and he had injuries to his head and right leg.
He was pronounced dead at 3.45am.
Gardaí were called and they spoke to Vasylenko.
She admitted she was present when Mr Nesterov stood in front of his Hyundai Elantra car and then fell down. She admitted she had consumed alcohol, but denied that she had been driving the car.
The area was examined by a garda scenes of crime unit and a dashcam was seized from Mr Nesterov's car.
Dashcam footage captured incident
Detective Garda Brennan said the dashcam footage had captured most of the incident.
He said the footage showed Mr Nesterov at the rear of his car and six seconds later the vehicle was put into reverse.
He said the front, right side of the car is seen lifted up and Mr Nesterov becomes visible on the ground. He said Vasylenko is then seen approaching Mr Nesterov on the ground.
Detective Garda Brennan said Vasylenko is seen a short time later alerting hotel staff and requesting that an ambulance be called.
After she returned to her room in the hotel, she was later arrested and questioned by gardaí.
She initially denied driving the car and said Mr Nesterov had fallen. Later she said she did not totally remember because she was intoxicated and in shock.
However, in a subsequent interview she accepted she had been driving Mr Nesterov's car, but she said she did not realise that she had driven over him.
Mr Nesterov died from severe traumatic brain injuries, together with blunt force trauma to his chest. The court was also told there was a high concentration of alcohol in his blood.
Detective Garda Brennan agreed Vasylenko had been intoxicated on the night and was remorseful. He said he accepted that this was a tragic accident.
Defence Counsel Jane Hyland said Vasylenko had asked her to convey how devastated she was, saying Mr Nesterov's death was a burden on her heart and would remain so for the rest of her life.
She apologised to his family, saying no words could reduce their pain.
"She is extremely remorseful," Ms Hyland said. "If she could turn back time, she would. She hopes that the family can find a place in their hearts for forgiveness."
Ms Hyland said Vasylenko has a degree in English and Ukrainian and is qualified to teach English. She said she has no previous convictions.
She said Vasylenko accepts full responsibility and has been an excellent prisoner since she went into custody last October.
