Cavan man pleads to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm
David Raleigh
A MAN convicted of a gruesome murder last month has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to two teenagers. Gerard Manning was so drunk behind the wheel of the car, which collided with two young people traveling on a bicycle, that he was unable to stand up when gardai arrested him.
The 34-year old pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court yesterday to the causing harm charge. He also pleaded guilty to stealing the car.
John O'Sullivan, prosecuting, said: “He was so drunk he fell over and simply wasn't able to move.”
He couldn't get up he was so drunk.”
When gardaí arrested him at the scene of the crash, on the Limerick-Dublin Rd, “he was sitting on a grass verge beside the stolen car and his speech was slurred,” Mr O'Sullivan said.
The result of a blood test, conducted on Manning when he was in custody following his arrest, showed a reading of 212mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
“The legal limit at the time was 80mg (alcohol). He was well over it (limit),” Mr O'Sullivan said.
Mr Manning, of Upper Gerald Griffin Street, Limerick, but originally from Belturbet, Cavan, was seen by another motorist swerving on the road moments before he mounted a footpath.
As he dismounted the kerb, he collided with the two teenagers who were both traveling on one bicycle in a designated cycle lane.
One of the injured parties, a young woman aged 18, underwent surgery on a fractured leg sustained in the collision.
It was heard she still suffers nightmares of the incident on St Patrick's Day 2010.
A 17-year old boy injured spent five weeks on crutches after sustaining a swollen ankle.
Sentencing was adjourned until May 1.
Last month, Mr Manning was given the mandatory life sentence after he was convicted of murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court, Dublin.
His victim, Martin Purcell, (54), had his throat slit as he sat in his living room at his apartment in Limerick City between September 28 and 30, 2011.
The victim -- who was stabbed 41 times -- had his trousers pulled down and sustained multiple knife wounds, which fractured numerous bones and injured his heart, lungs and several other organs.
Gardaí told the court there was no known motive for the savage and gruesome attack.