Suspended sentence for fatal hit and run driver who killed Monaghan cyclist

A man who was involved in the fatal hit and run of a young Monaghan cyclist was on bail and serving a suspended sentence for a number of thefts at the time of the accident, writes Declan Brennan. Judge Patrick McCartan described the death of Shane O'Farrell on a summer's night over two years ago as a tragic accident which occurred because the deceased was not properly lit up. Mr O'Farrell (23) died on August 2, 2011 after his bike was struck by a car on the N2 Dublin to Derry Road between Carrickmacross and Castleblaney sometime after 10pm that evening. Judge McCartan suspended a jail sentence of eight months on condition that Lithuanian Zigimantas Gridziuska (39) leave the country within three weeks. Gridziuska of Adrross Avenue, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan entered into a bond at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to stay out of the country for 10 years or else face going to prison. He was banned from driving in this country for 10 years. Gridziuska had pleaded guilty to failing to stop his car at the scene of an accident at Tollyvara Upper, Carrickmacross on August 2, 2011, failing to keep the car near the scene of this accident and failing to report this accident as soon as possible to gardai. Earlier this month Judge McCartan directed a jury to find him not guilty of dangerous driving causing the death of Mr O'Farrell after telling them there was no evidence to support the charge. On Thursday he pleaded guilty to an additional charge of driving a vehicle in a dangerously defective condition on August 2, 2011, due to the condition of the steering. Garda Sergeant James Walsh said that the car was not safe to take out on a public road but that the defective steering would not have had a bearing on the fatal accident as the car was traveling in a straight line when it hit the cyclist. After the judge had left the court room on Thursday Shane O'Farrell's mother shouted at the guilty man: "You murdered my son. There is no justice". During the hearing Garda John Callanan told Ronan Kennedy BL, prosecuting, that there were no brake marks found before or after the point of impact and that the driver had continued driving for over 5km. The court heard that he had being driving within the speed limit of 100kmp/hr and that other drivers had reported seeing a cyclist who wasn't lit up cycling along the road. The deceased had gone out with reflectors but no lights on his bike and the accident took place nearly half an hour after lighting up time. The accused told gardai that he had panicked when the accident took place. He parked the car over five kilometres from the accident and surveyed the extensive damage to the front. He told them: "When I started looking at my car I had very bad feelings in my body. I felt sick. I had a headache. I walked for an hour. I had some strange noise in my head." He also said: "If not calling the ambulance caused this man's death I'm ready to take my punishment". Post mortem results indicated Mr O'Farrell had died instantaneously. Judge McCartan said Gridziuska was not driving dangerously when the accident happened but that he couldn't have being in any doubt that he had struck a person. The judge said that the community would be better off without Gridziuska living here. The former heroin addict has 49 previous convictions, including 26 for theft and nine under the road traffic act. At the time of the fatal accident he was serving a sentence of four months for theft, imposed in Ardee District Court but suspended for two years. He was also on bail on four counts of theft and one of possession of stolen property. In January 2012 he received concurrent sentences of six months each for the theft offences in Monaghan District Court. Nine of his convictions are for road traffic offences including exceeding the speed limit, improper maintenance of a vehicle and failure to produce an NCT disc.