Man who avoided a jail term yesterday for careless driving causing death gets suspended sentence for drug offences

By Fiona Ferguson

A man who received a suspended term for careless driving causing the death of a young French woman has also avoided a jail term for drug offences.

A Dublin Circuit Criminal Court sentence hearing yesterday heard that Alicia Guilleux (31) and her partner Florian Avril were visiting Ireland on a trip to celebrate a birthday when they were struck by an SUV driven by Shaun Kelly (33) as they crossed a city centre road while holding hands.

Kelly was turning right from a minor street, Fade Street, onto South Great George Street.

Mr Avril was pushed clear of the vehicle but Ms Guilleux was dragged underneath the Ford Ranger and sustained catastrophic injuries.

She died two days later in hospital.

Kelly was tested and was clear of any intoxicants, but drugs were later discovered in the car and he subsequently admitted he had been in the area at the time for the purpose of selling drugs.

Kelly, of Thornhill Gardens, Celbridge, Kildare, pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of Ms Guilleux at South Great George Street, Dublin 2, on December 11, 2021.

He further pleaded guilty to possession of ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and TCP, a hallucinogenic drug, on the same occasion for sale or supply.

He has no previous convictions.

Kelly was interviewed after Ms Guilleux passed away and told gardai he had not seen the couple until they were right in front of them.

He denied being distracted at the time he hit the couple but said he may have looked the other way.

The car had been seized and brought to the garda station.

While it was there the battery was recharged in March 2022 and drugs valued at just over €3,088 were found in a magnetic box attached to the engine block.

Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Martin Nolan said the first matter had been a tragic incident and the court expressed its condolences and sorrow to all parties.

He said Ms Guilleux’s death had been a huge loss and she could not be replaced in the lives of those affected.

He said the court’s role was to administer justice and give a just sentence to Shaun Kelly.

Judge Nolan said the sentence was based on his culpability and what he did wrong on the night.

He said it seemed to him, from listening to the evidence and watching the CCTV footage, that Kelly made one big mistake. He said it should have been obvious that the couple were on the road and he should have noticed them on the road and driven a different way.

The judge said the couple were there to be seen, but for whatever reason he did not see them.

Judge Nolan outlined the mitigation including Kelly’s guilty plea, admissions, co-operation, lack of previous convictions and the absence of aggravating factors in the case.

He said it seemed the young man had mostly led a pro-social life and had a future before him.

He said that what Kelly had done had tragic consequences, but it seemed to him the court would not be justified in imprisoning him at this point for the crime of careless driving causing death.

The judge said he had made that decision taking into account all the evidence before the court and the submissions made.

He imposed a sentence of one year which he suspended in full.

He disqualified Kelly from driving for one year.