The mother of a four-year-old boy killed when a disqualified driver ploughed into him on a Westmeath road says she is horrified his four month prison sentence has been remitted.
Arnoldas Valinskas of Belgard Green in Tallaght was not charged with the death of four-year-old Peter Hennessy from Oldcastle on December 2 last year, but he had no insurance, no licence and no permission to drive the van he took from a friend.
However the toddler’s mother is incredulous that Valinskas, who was serving a four year disqualification for drink driving when the accident happened, can walk free from court.
“It’s horrendous,” said a devastated Ann Hennessy. “I can’t believe on Peter’s anniversary he’s giving us this to deal with.”
During his appeal against a four month sentence for each of those offences, Mullingar Circuit Court was told Valinskas could not have avoided colliding with the four year old, his two-year-old brother and his father as they left their jack-knifed jeep and trailer on the N4 outside Mullingar.
Noting that there was no charge against the 37-year-old for his driving, Judge Anthony Kennedy removed the four month jail term imposed by Judge Elizabeth McGrath on each of the offences.
However, Ann Hennessy vows that she will do everything she can to ensure the law is changed so that those who drive while disqualified receive tougher sanctions.
“My blood is boiling,” she said. “Peter is screaming to me from the grave. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he did not die in vain. This is so wrong.”
The Lithuanian’s barrister Shane Geraghty told the Circuit Court that Valinskas had had been stressed because of difficulties he and his wife experienced in conceiving a baby. They are now expecting their first child.
Ann Hennessy believes Valinskas shouldn’t have been on the road at all because he was disqualified and was initially disappointed at what she felt was a lenient sentence imposed in the District Court – “a month for each year of my son’s life”.
At that time Judge McGrath had expressed her concern that Valinskas hadn’t been driving for any emergency reason when the accident happened.
Valinskas told the court through his counsel that he deeply regretted what happened and wanted to apologise to the Hennessy family.
He had tried to avoid the jack-knifed jeep but “it was a really sudden situation”. He is suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder since the accident and has flashbacks.
For Mrs Hennessy the issue is black and white.
“He shouldn’t have been on the road. If he wasn’t, our lovely son would be alive.”
