By Eimear Dodd
A woman who collided with a motorbike on the M50 has been handed a suspended nine-month sentence for careless driving.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the motorcyclist sustained serious injuries, including a broken wrist, and fractures to his collarbone, ribs and pelvis.
In a victim impact statement, he said his life was “irrevocably changed” and that he spent four weeks in hospital following the collision and required three surgeries.
Nafisa Xussein (57) pleaded guilty to one count of careless driving causing serious bodily harm on October 25, 2021, at the M50 northbound junction 6, Blanchardstown on October 25, 2021.
Evidence was heard that a car driven by Xussein collided with a motorbike on the M50 northbound at junction 6. She indicated to move into the slip road at junction 6, but didn’t see the motorbike when she made her manoeuvre and sideswiped him.
An investigating garda told Oisin Clarke BL, prosecuting, that Xussein said in a voluntary interview that she had checked her mirrors, but not over her shoulder.
Xussein of Whitechurch Heights, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, remained at the scene and provided a breath sample to gardai, which was negative for alcohol.
She has no previous convictions, her documents were in order, and she fully cooperated with the gardai.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by Mr Clarke, the victim said this collision caused injuries which have had a lasting impact on his life.
He said he suffered fractures to his wrist, ribs, collarbone and pelvis as well as bruising to his right lung and pelvis area.
He said he was in “immense pain” and required intensive physiotherapy while in hospital to help him walk again. He also underwent further physiotherapy after leaving the hospital.
The man said he is semi-retired, but his work as a diving instructor has been affected because his ability to help underwater if someone gets into difficulty is more restricted.
He expressed his thanks to the emergency services, his wife and family and two strangers who helped him while he was on the M50.
The garda agreed with Alan Delany BL, defending, that the insurance companies have settled any claim. It was also accepted that only material damage would have been caused if two cars had been involved in this type of collision.
Mr Delany asked the court to consider his client’s early guilty pleas and lack of previous convictions.
He said his client realised too late that she needed to turn off at that junction. Counsel asked the court not to impose a driving disqualification as his client is a single mother and requires her licence to drive one of her three children, who has serious medical issues, to appointments.
A letter of apology was handed to the court along with medical documents and reports.
Judge Jonathan Dunphy said the court accepts that “this appears to have been a lapse of concentration” and that while Xussein indicated, she did not show adequate care in checking for a motorbike before performing the manoeuvre.
Having considered Xussein’s guilty plea and the mitigation, Judge Dunphy imposed a nine-month sentence suspended for 12 months.
The judge said he would not impose a disqualification in the “exceptional circumstances” of the evidence that Xussein required her licence to bring her child to medical appointments.
Judge Dunphy wished the injured party well in his continued recovery.