Man jailed for fleeing scene after fatally injuring elderly woman who was crossing road

By Sonya McLean

A man who left the scene after he had knocked down an elderly woman as she was crossing the road has been jailed for four years and three months for dangerous driving causing death.

Philip Ormond (43) had driven through a red light and was 18 km over the speed limit when he struck Kathleen Furlong on the R136 in Tallaght at the junction of Fortunestown Way and Cheeverstown Road around 11am on September 8, 2023.

Despite the efforts of various people – including an off-duty doctor who had been in traffic at the time – to assist Ms Furlong, she was pronounced dead at the scene. She had suffered severe head injuries and multiple fractures to her leg, hip and pelvis.

Witnesses to the collision described Ms Furlong as being flung up into the air. One person said she  was knocked about 12 foot into the air and that her body rotated while in the air. Gardaí were told she hit the ground and remain stationary. One motorist thought “a bag of rubbish” had been struck.

Ms Furlong’s shoes were in two different places, her shopping, including a bottle of milk she had just bought was further down the road, with the milk cartoon smashed.

A witness later told gardaí that they were “pretty sure” Ormond had broken a red light. He was seen driving off after the collision, stopping for a moment, getting out of the car and driving off again.

One man said he saw the driver after he stopped the car and said he had a “look of panic” on his face.

A victim impact statement, read to the court by Joe Mulrean BL, prosecuting, and prepared by Ms Furlong’s children said Ormond had made “a deliberate choice to drive dangerously and leave our Mam dying on the road”.

They said Ormond had shown “a disregard for others” and described his driving as “an act of recklessness that goes beyond negligence”. They said it was “not an accident – it was a choice”.

They said his behaviour demonstrated “a reckless disregard for human life” and how he had mowed their mother down.

“He imposed a death penalty on our mother and a life sentence on us until our dying breath,” the statement said before they added that Ormond “must be accountable for the life lost and the lives impacted”.

Ms Furlong’s children said that no words could fully capture the depth of their grief and they struggled to find the words to truly convey the impact of her death on them.

They said their mother was the only person in the world that truly understood each of them and said she was “full of life and kindness”.

They described Ms Furlong as “a rock” and said she had “an incredible way of bringing light and hope to any situation”.

They said she gave “the best hugs, best advice” and said in recent years when she had lost her ability to speak due to cancer she would knock on the table to get their attention.

Ms Furlong was described by her family as “a strong resilient woman who was never afraid to speak” and she was “fiercely loving, proud woman” who was “patient and understanding” with a “heart of gold”.

They asked how they are supposed to live on without her adding that “her life was taken just minutes from her home”. They spoke of how her grandson had walked by the accident minutes after it happened not knowing that his grandmother was lying on the road.

“Life is a blur, we are trying to move forward and it often feels like we can’t breathe,” the victim impact said adding that their mother was “cruelly mowed down” and “our hearts will be forever broken”.

“Our mother’s name was Kathleen Furlong. She was loved. She was the heart of our family,” the statement concluded before her children added that they will “miss her no matter how many tomorrows” they have. The family said they hope “justice will honour her memory”.

Ormond, of Deerpark Place, Kiltipper Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing death to Ms Furlong on September 8, 2023. He also admitted to leaving the scene of a collision.

Ormond’s 53 previous convictions included 24 road traffic offences, including one for dangerous driving from 2002. While Ormond had an insurance policy on the car, it had lapsed due to non-payment of the premium.

Judge Martin Nolan told Garret Baker SC, defending, after evidence was heard, that as he sees it there are three aggravating factors in the case; the speed Ormond was travelling, the fact that he had adequate time to see the red light and yet he didn’t respond and leaving the scene.

The judge suggested to counsel that Ormond’s motivation to leave the scene was because he knew he had broken a red light.

Counsel replied that his instructions were that Ormond reacted in “a blind panic”.

Judge Nolan acknowledged that there was “no doubt” that Ormond is remorseful but noted that all other road users that day saw the situation with the traffic lights and “obeyed the situation”.

“Looking at the evidence he had a long period to see the light,” before the judge again suggested that Ormond “knew he had done something wrong and that was his reason for moving from the scene”.

Mr Baker asked the court to accept that Ormond’s guilty plea was “a mitigating factor” in the case while acknowledging that there was strong evidence against him.

He said a letter from Senator Lynn Ruane was before the court because counsel said she feels the need to offer support to Ormond but she is at pains to sympathize with the Furlong family.

Mr Baker asked the court to accept that there was no evidence of alcohol, drugs, phone use, a defective vehicle or dangerous driving over a sustained period.

Judge Nolan adjourned the case overnight to consider it.

Sentencing Omond, Judge Nolan expressed the court’s sympathies to Ms Furlong’s family.

He said it was clear she was “beloved by her children, grandchildren, extended family and all the people who knew her”, adding this was a “particularly tragic end for a lady who lived a productive and meaningful life”.

The judge said the speed Ormond was driving, his failure to obey the lights and failure to remain at the scene were aggravating factors in the case.

He said the court considered from the evidence that there was “ample opportunity” for Ormond to observe the red light and take action.

Judge Nolan said the evidence was that Ormond “took a chance”.

“Unfortunately for everyone, particularly Ms Furlong and her family, her death ensued due to this defendant taking that chance,” the judge added.

He said the court had considered the mitigation, and accepted Ormond’s remorse was genuine. After imposing a sentence of four years and three months, Judge Nolan disqualified Ormond from driving for six years.

Garda Niall O’Rorke showed various CCTV footage to the court during the sentence hearing showing the collision and the movements of the Ford Focus Ormond was driving afterwards. The footage included footage from the Ring doorbell of Ormond’s partner.

He can be seen coming into the house with a woman who can be heard saying to another woman at the door “he is after knocking down an old woman…. she is dead”.

There was a conversation around whether he was insured and a question as to where the car was. Ormond can be seen leaving in different clothing. He had been wearing an Ireland jersey earlier.

Gda O’Rourke told Mr Mulrean that the Ford Focus was later found parked up close to where Ormond’s partner lived. The registration plates were covered in a black plastic bag.

The vehicle was registered to Ormond and he was contacted by gardaí later that evening. He came to the station a number of hours later and made full admissions with a garda commenting to him during interview that he was “being remarkably co-operative”.

Ormond told gardaí in interview that Ms Furlong “came straight out in front of him”. He said he hit her and she struck the windscreen before going up on the bonnet.

He claimed that when he stopped, he called out at the people gathered and asked if the woman was breathing.

“I panicked and jumped back into the car. I thought she was okay”.

“I am still trying to take it all in,” Ormond told gardaí.

He told officers that he believed he had a green light and that he would not have been driving at speed.

“I just panicked. That is my mistake. I cannot apologise enough,” he said.

He said in his honest opinion he didn’t see Ms Furlong after officers put it to him that as she was an elderly woman she would have been walking slowly and could not have just come out of nowhere.

Ormond denied that he was on his phone or that anything was distracting him – “I did not see her until the moment of impact”, he said.

He continued to deny that he went through a red light and insisted that it was green.

Gda O’Rourke said collision experts found that Ormond was travelling at 78 km/hr at the time of impact, in a 60 km/hr zone. He had undertook other vehicles as he was coming through the junctions and it was also determined that he had broken a red light.

The light had turned amber about three seconds before it turned red and the experts concluded that it turned amber when Ormond was over 100m from the traffic lights travelling towards the lights. Ms Furlong did not have a green pedestrian light to cross the road.

Gda O’Rourke said “fresh locked wheel marks” suggest that Ormond did not react until he impacted with Ms Furlong.

The weather conditions were good and the car, including the brakes, were in good condition.

A post-mortem concluded that Ms Furlong suffered fractures to her skull from her head impacting a hard surface. It was determined that “death occurred due to multiple traumatic injuries including severe head injuries as a result of a collision”.

Gda O’Rourke agreed with Mr Baker that while Ormond left the scene of the accident, Ms Furlong’s treatment was not delayed by him leaving, due to the fact that there were other people, including the off duty doctor, nearby.

Counsel acknowledged and said it was his client’s instruction that it was absolutely the “wrong decision to leave the scene”.

Gda O’Rourke accepted that Ormond was “aware of the gravity of the situation and the impact it had on Ms Furlong and her family”.

He further accepted that on his arrival at the station Ormond had “come to his senses and was dealing with the investigation in a responsible way”, although Ormond did “speculate” during interview as to how this could have happened.

The garda accepted that Ormond became visibly upset at various points during the interview and he said Ormond claimed to have no idea why the registration plates of the vehicle were covered up with a plastic bag.

Gda O’Rourke accepted that Ormond had been a heroin addict but was clean of drugs for a number of years which was reflected in “the sizable gap” between his previous convictions.

It was further accepted that while he had taken out insurance on the car the policy had lapsed because of “lack of payments”.

Mr Baker said his client’s actions that day had “rippled outwards” and “impacted multiple lives”.

He said Ormond had “never intended the catastrophic end result” and “earth shattering consequences” of his driving that day.

He asked the court to accept that his client’s actions were negligent and reckless rather than malicious.

Mr Baker said his client offers “an unreserved apology” for his behaviour but he fully appreciates that it is something that Ms Furlong’s family may not want to hear.

He said Ormond is a father of two children. Ormond started dabbling in drugs at the age of ten and was taking heroin by the time he was 14 years old, taking it intravenously by the time he was 16.

Mr Baker said his client developed a “full blown addiction” and his life spiralled out of control. He made several attempts to rehabilitate but only did so in “a sustained and successful way” in 2009, leading to “a tangible transformation in his life”.

Counsel said his client has managed to maintain a drug-free life and has assisted others through a local programme for those addicted to drugs in his community.

Mr Baker said his client is attending counselling for the trauma he has experienced which counsel said he acknowledges that he has brought on himself.