A man who struck and killed an elderly pedestrian while driving dangerously and then fled the scene has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison, reports Breaking News.
Philip Ormond (43) ran a red light and was travelling 18 km/h over the speed limit when he hit Kathleen Furlong as she was crossing the R136 in Tallaght, at the Fortunestown Way and Cheeverstown Road junction, around 11am on September 8th, 2023.
Despite efforts from several bystanders, including an off-duty doctor who was nearby, Ms Furlong was pronounced dead at the scene, reports Breaking News.
She sustained severe head trauma and multiple fractures to her leg, hip, and pelvis.
Eyewitnesses said the impact flung Ms Furlong into the air. One described her being thrown approximately 12 feet high and rotating mid-air, reports Breaking News.
One driver told gardaí they initially thought the car had hit “a bag of rubbish”.
Ms Furlong’s shoes were found in separate spots, and her shopping— including a smashed bottle of milk— was scattered down the road.
A witness said they were “pretty sure” Ormond ran a red light. He was seen fleeing the scene, stopping briefly, stepping out of his vehicle, and then driving off again, reports Breaking News.
Another individual noted that Ormond had a “look of panic” on his face after he stopped.
In a victim impact statement delivered by prosecutor Joe Mulrean BL on behalf of Ms Furlong’s children, the family condemned Ormond’s actions as a deliberate and reckless act, reports Breaking News.
They said Ormond had shown “a disregard for others” and labelled his driving “an act of recklessness that goes beyond negligence”. They said it was “not an accident – it was a choice”.
They described his behaviour as “a reckless disregard for human life” and said he “mowed their mother down”, reports Breaking News.
“He imposed a death penalty on our mother and a life sentence on us until our dying breath,” the statement read. The family added that Ormond “must be accountable for the life lost and the lives impacted”, reports Breaking News.
Ms Furlong’s children said that no words could fully capture the depth of their grief and they struggled to find the words to truly convey the impact of her death on them.
They said their mother was the only person in the world that truly understood each of them and said she was “full of life and kindness”.
They described Ms Furlong as “a rock” and said she had “an incredible way of bringing light and hope to any situation”, reports Breaking News.
They said she gave “the best hugs, best advice” and said in recent years when she had lost her ability to speak due to cancer she would knock on the table to get their attention.
They asked how they are supposed to live on without her adding that “her life was taken just minutes from her home”. They spoke of how her grandson had walked by the accident minutes after it happened not knowing that his grandmother was lying on the road, reports Breaking News.
“Life is a blur, we are trying to move forward and it often feels like we can’t breathe,” the victim impact said adding that their mother was “cruelly mowed down” and “our hearts will be forever broken”, reports Breaking News.
“Our mother’s name was Kathleen Furlong. She was loved. She was the heart of our family,” the statement concluded before her children added that they will “miss her no matter how many tomorrows” they have. The family said they hope “justice will honour her memory”, reports Breaking News.
Ormond, of Deerpark Place, Kiltipper Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing death to Ms Furlong on September 8th 2023.
He also admitted to leaving the scene of a collision.
Ormond has 53 previous convictions, including 24 for road traffic offences, one of which was a 2002 dangerous driving offence. While he had an insurance policy for the car he was driving, it had lapsed due to unpaid premiums, reports Breaking News.
TheLiberal.ie won’t quit
Please support us with a small donation on PayPal!
During Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Martin Nolan outlined three aggravating factors: Ormond’s speeding, his failure to respond to a red light, and his decision to leave the scene.
The judge speculated that Ormond fled because he realised he had run the red light, reports Breaking News.
Ormond’s defence counsel, Garret Baker SC, said his client acted in “a blind panic”.
Judge Nolan accepted that Ormond was remorseful but stressed that other drivers had properly responded to the traffic signals.
“Looking at the evidence he had a long period to see the light,” before the judge again suggested that Ormond “knew he had done something wrong and that was his reason for moving from the scene”, reports Breaking News.
Mr Baker asked the court to accept that Ormond’s guilty plea was “a mitigating factor” in the case while acknowledging that there was strong evidence against him.
He said a letter from Senator Lynn Ruane was before the court because counsel said she feels the need to offer support to Ormond but she is at pains to sympathize with the Furlong family, reports Breaking News.
Mr Baker asked the court to accept that there was no evidence of alcohol, drugs, phone use, a defective vehicle or dangerous driving over a sustained period.
Judge Nolan adjourned the case overnight to consider it.
At sentencing on Thursday, Judge Nolan extended the court’s sympathies to Ms Furlong’s family, reports Breaking News.
He described Ms Furlong as “beloved by her children, grandchildren, extended family and all the people who knew her”, and called her death a “particularly tragic end for a lady who lived a productive and meaningful life”, reports Breaking News.
The judge cited Ormond’s speed, his failure to stop at the red light, and leaving the scene as key aggravating factors.
He said the court considered from the evidence that there was “ample opportunity” for Ormond to observe the red light and take action.
Judge Nolan said the evidence was that Ormond “took a chance”, reports Breaking News.
“Unfortunately for everyone, particularly Ms Furlong and her family, her death ensued due to this defendant taking that chance,” the judge added, reports Breaking News.
He said the court had considered the mitigation, and accepted Ormond’s remorse was genuine. After imposing a sentence of four years and three months, Judge Nolan disqualified Ormond from driving for six years.
During the sentencing hearing, Garda Niall O’Rorke presented CCTV evidence showing the crash and the movements of Ormond’s Ford Focus after the incident. The footage included video from the Ring doorbell at the home of Ormond’s partner.
In the footage, Ormond is seen entering the house with a woman who is heard saying to another woman at the door, “he is after knocking down an old woman…. she is dead”, reports Breaking News.
The video captured a discussion about whether Ormond had insurance and the location of the car. Ormond later re-emerged in different clothes, having previously worn an Ireland jersey.
Gda O’Rourke told Mr Mulrean that the Ford Focus was later found parked near Ormond’s partner’s home. The registration plates had been covered with a black plastic bag, reports Breaking News.
The car was registered in Ormond’s name, and gardaí contacted him that evening. He voluntarily came to the station a few hours later and made full admissions. One garda commented that he was “being remarkably co-operative”.
Ormond told gardaí in interview that Ms Furlong “came straight out in front of him”. He said he hit her and she struck the windscreen before landing on the bonnet, reports Breaking News.
He claimed that when he stopped, he called out at the people gathered and asked if the woman was breathing.
“I panicked and jumped back into the car. I thought she was okay. I am still trying to take it all in,” Ormond told gardaí, reports Breaking News.
He told officers that he believed he had a green light and that he would not have been driving at speed.
“I just panicked. That is my mistake. I cannot apologise enough,” he said, reports Breaking News.
He said in his honest opinion he didn’t see Ms Furlong after officers put it to him that as she was an elderly woman she would have been walking slowly and could not have just come out of nowhere.
Ormond denied that he was on his phone or that anything was distracting him – “I did not see her until the moment of impact”, he said.
He continued to deny that he went through a red light and insisted that it was green, reports Breaking News.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
