A motorist who broke a red light and fatally injured an eight-year-old boy as he cycled through a pedestrian crossing in Co Cork has been jailed.
John Moynihan (62) wept in the dock at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Monday as André Castro Ladeiro’s parents, César Ladiero and Filipa Castro, spoke of the devastation the defendant’s actions had caused.
Moynihan, of Parkanillane, Kilnamartyra, Macroom, previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the boy’s death at Cork Road, Carrigaline on August 12th 2023.
He was sentenced to three years in jail with the final year suspended.
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Garda Dinah Birnbaum told the court Mr Ladeiro was cycling with his younger son Tomás in a trailer behind him while André followed on his own bike.
She said they got a green light to enter the pedestrian crossing at 9.20am and Moynihan’s Ford Ranger came through a nearby roundabout, broke a red light and hit André on the pedestrian crossing, causing him catastrophic injuries.
André was rushed to Cork University Hospital and later transferred to Temple Street Children’s Hospital, where he died four days later having suffered multiple skull fractures and serious brain injuries in the collision.
Garda Birnbaum said Moynihan was breathalysed at the scene and had neither drink nor drugs in his system. He was estimated to have been travelling at between 35km/h and 37km/h in a 50km/h zone.
She agreed with defence counsel Jane Hyland SC that Moynihan said at interview that he could not imagine what the family was going through and wished he could turn back time.
In victim impact statements, Mr Ladeiro and Ms Castro said their lives were changed irrevocably by Moynihan’s actions. They spoke of their struggles in coping with the loss of their first born son and of trying to comfort his younger brother.
Mr Ladeiro said people have many dreams and André‘s birth was his “first dream coming true”.
“The joy of feeling him for the first time in the summer of 2014 in mummy’s belly is a souvenir I take for life, of having him in my arms three days before Christmas is another one, a journey that started so many months before and so many worries to all go well,” he said.
Ms Castro said the family moved to Ireland from Portugal in 2019 when André was five as they thought they would have a better quality of life.
“I lost my son and my life fell apart- 548 days later it is impossible to believe or accept it – every day I wait to see him walk through the door with his captivating smile to hug him – every day is a challenge between anger, sadness, depression, despair, fear, dark days, disbelief,” she said.
Judge Dermot Sheehan noted mitigating factors including Moynihan’s guilty plea, the absence of previous convictions and the fact he was not speeding or intoxicated.
He accepted that Moynihan was hugely remorseful, but said he should have been more careful, particularly driving a big vehicle like a Ford Ranger.
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