An eight-year jail term has been imposed on a man who knocked down an elderly woman in Dublin in June of last year while riding a stolen e-scooter, reports RTE.
Three days after being hit on Eccles Street close to the city centre, 87-year-old Mary Bernie, often known as Peg, passed away in the hospital from her wounds.
Aaron Gumble, of Dublin’s Drumalee Park, North Circular Road, entered a guilty plea to charges of e-scooter theft, abandoning the scene, and hazardous driving resulting in death, reports RTE.
The 28-yr-old, who was at the time out on bail for stealing crimes, received an eight-year sentence with the last 18 months suspended.
For five years, he was also prohibited from driving.
Judge Pauline Codd, who handed out the sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, praised Mrs. Bernie’s daughter for her incredibly poignant, well-spoken, and perceptive victim impact statement, reports RTE.
According to Judge Codd, the family of the late Mrs. Bernie was enduring “unspeakable trauma” as a result of the devastating death of their beloved mother.
“I hope she is dearly remembered that way,” the judge said, describing Mrs. Bernie as a “warm, decent and kind human being that just emanated from the entire victim impact report.”
Judge Codd saw that Gumble had yelled for assistance where Mrs. Bernie was lying on the ground before he left the site after watching CCTV footage of the event.
“He seemed more motivated to make good his getaway than to help the woman he had collided with and left on the ground. He asked others to help her but wasn’t willing to do so himself,” she said, reports RTE.
Judge Codd ruled that Gumble’s departure from the scene was a major aggravating circumstance and imposed a headline sentence of nine and a half years.
He allegedly didn’t realise how serious the injuries were. However, he didn’t stay to learn,” she said.
For acts of this kind, Judge Codd ranked the crime at the top of the spectrum. She listed Gumble’s long-standing drug problems and his guilty plea as mitigating considerations, reports RTE.
The family is “infested with nightmares.”
On behalf of the Bernie family, Denise McDonnell, Mrs. Bernie’s daughter, gave her victim impact report.
She recalled her mother to be “a kind, generous, gym-going, bridge-playing, energetic woman, who expressed her love for her family through cooking and baking”, reports RTE.
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