Jail for disqualified drunk driver who led Gardaí on pursuit

By Sonya McLean

A disqualified driver who was so drunk he has no recollection of his involvement in a garda pursuit has been jailed for stealing a car and reckless endangerment.

Darragh Carroll (27) was spotted by gardaí speeding in the Balbriggan area. Officers activated the lights and sirens and indicated the driver to pull over but he refused to and continued to drive dangerously in the area.

Gardaí ran a check on the registration plate of the Renault Fluence and noted that it had been stolen the previous evening.

Carroll ran a number of red lights, including overtaking another vehicle that was stopped at the lights, drove through a number of stop signs, mounted a footpath and drove the wrong way down busy residential streets.

Garda Dean O’Donnell told Marc Murphy BL, prosecuting, that at one point Carroll swerved around a pedestrian that was crossing the road.

The chase ultimately came to an end when he drove straight into a wooden pillar. The passenger was arrested immediately but Carroll ran from the scene and jumped over the wall of a nearby house. He was arrested by gardaí who met him at the front of that house.

Carroll, of The Plaza, Shangan Road, Dublin 9, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to stealing a Renault Fluence, endangerment, two charges of criminal damage and having no driving license in the Balbriggan area on April 22, 2021.

Carroll had initially denied the charges but pleaded guilty on the morning of his trial. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest when he then failed to show up for his sentence hearing. He has been on remand in prison since August 2024 after gardaí executed that warrant.

Gda O’Donnell said Carroll was disqualified from driving for four years in October 2019 after he was convicted of having no insurance and dangerous driving.

He has a total of 60 previous convictions, which were mostly dealt with in the Children’s Court and include road traffic offences, criminal damage, drugs and assault causing harm. He was not on bail at the time of this offence.

Gda O’Donnell said the Renault Fluence was written off by the insurance company but the insurance company did not compensate the owner as it appears that he dropped his car keys close to the vehicle after parking it.

Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin said that Gda O’Donnell had given a graphic description of Carroll’s driving in a residential area.

She said he was very lucky he didn’t injure the pedestrian and noted that “he made a run for it” after he crashed the car.

Judge Ní Chúlacháin said she was taking into account that Carroll had been drinking at the time – “abuse of alcohol is scourge”, she added – but accepted that the offence had not been pre-meditated or planned.

She set a global headline sentence of seven and half years which she reduced to three years having taken into account Carroll’s pled of guilty, his “unfortunate upbringing” and his remorse.

“I am not sure how much of that is because you have been caught,” she commented referring to his apology for his actions.

“I am sorry,” Carroll replied.

“But you are not coming before the court as a person of a good character,” Judge Ní Chúlacháin continued and said that it was an aggravating feature that Carroll was disqualified from driving at the time.

She sentenced Carroll to three years in prison for the endangerment offence, two years for the criminal damage and two years for stealing the car. The sentences are to run concurrently.

Judge Ní Chúlacháin suspended the final 18 months of that sentence on condition that Carroll remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for those 18 months and engage with any courses they deem appropriate. He was disqualified from driving for five years.

Gda O’Donnell agreed with Aoife McNickle BL defending that her client was first convicted as a 15-year-old child.

She said he was seriously intoxicated on the night. She said he “drank entirely to excess” and cannot remember much of that evening.

Ms McNickle said her client accepts full responsibility for his actions and knows that he was “entirely in the wrong”.

She said Carroll has a difficult relationship with alcohol and drug misuse.

“He has poor coping mechanisms and poor decision making while using drugs or alcohol,” Ms McNickle said before she added her client is engaging with rehabilitation in custody.