A man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after he deliberately drove a stolen van at stationary garda motorcyclist following a high-speed chase through Cork city.
The man in question John Paul O’Driscoll, is known to have 168 previous convictions, had pleaded guilty to 17 charges including burglary, reckless endangerment and aggravated damage.
Damien Fitzgerald who was a passenger with O’Driscoll has received a four-year sentence for burglary and for allowing himself to be carried in a stolen vehicle.
It is understood that the incident has had a very traumatic effect on Garda Michael Twomey, and that Tommy is considering his future with the Garda Traffic corps.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin described the high-speed chase from one side of Cork city to the other on Good Friday this year as manic, mindless and phenomenally dangerous and “absolutely at the higher end of the scale of offences”.