Man jailed for causing fatal accident involving motorcyclist

By Eimear Dodd and Sonya McLean

A man who drove his car too close to a motorcyclist who was then killed following a collision with a third vehicle has been jailed for three years.

Andres Grans De Lima Sores (38) of Willow Park Crescent, Glasnevin, Dublin 11, pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of Calvin Gilchrist (19) on July 31, 2021.

He also pleaded guilty to a count of failing to remain at the scene of an accident on Finglas Road, Dublin. Sores has no previous convictions.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Mr Gilchrist was riding a stolen motorbike and neither he nor his passenger were wearing helmets. Moments earlier, they had undertook Sores, which led to Sores tailgating the motorbike for just under 500 metres.

The court heard that at one point, Sores was one second behind the motorbike and both vehicles crossed to the wrong side of the road.

An oncoming taxi unsuccessfully tried to take evasive action and was involved in a collision with Mr Gilchrist’s motorbike, which hit the wall of Glasnevin cemetery.

Mr Gilchrist sustained serious cranial injuries and was pronounced dead in hospital several hours later.

Sores did not remain at the scene nor contact gardai, who several months later identified his red Toyota and tracked it to his address.

The court was told that the prosecution’s case is Sores’s careless driving on the night included the speed he was travelling at, the insufficient distance between him and the motorbike and that he was driving on the wrong side of the road.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by her partner, Mr Gilchrist’s mother Leanne said her son was “robbed of life, his future and everything he could have become”.

She said “Calvin was my child, my world, my heart” and “his loss has shattered us as a family”.

After hearing the facts of the case on December 11 last, Judge Pauline Codd said this was a “very serious case because of the continuum of driving and the decision not to let something go and follow it up the road”.

She said that Sores “decided to tailgate” Mr Gilchrist and “not let the incident go”.She said there is “no such thing as a perfect victim and a complete villain” and the court must evaluate all aspects of the case.

Noting that Sores has no previous conditions, she adjourned finalisation to Monday for the preparation of a probation report.

Passing down sentence, Judge Codd said that from the outset, she wanted to express the court’s sincere condolences to Mr Gilchrist’s mother, father, sister, step-father and all those who loved him.

She said he was “a much loved son, brother and friend” before she acknowledged how difficult the court process can be for a victim’s family.

Judge Codd said Sores indirectly caused the death of Mr Gilchrist before she noted that the actions of the victim also contributed to his death – noting that he was riding a stolen motorbike with no helmet.

“The actions of both the accused and the deceased were highly dangerous – they were driving in a highly reckless and culpable manner. A car driving so close to a bike, a car will always win that battle on the road, where people are jostling for space,” Judge Codd said.

She noted that Sores was older and had the extra protection of being the driver of a car. She said it would have been obvious to him that the people on the bike were more vulnerable and added that he must have noticed that they were not wearing helmets.

Referring to the fact that he left the scene, Judge Codd said Sores also “hid under the garda radar” as he did not come forward despite public pleas for assistance in the investigation. She commended the work of the gardaí in ultimately tracking Sores down.

Judge Codd said the impact would have been “apparent” to Sores as he was driving directly behind Mr Gilchrist. She accepted that he is now taking full responsibility for his actions, has pleaded guilty and has expressed what she referred to as “genuine remorse”.

Judge Codd took into account the impact on Mr Gilchrist’s family and how they are devastated by his loss at such a young age.

“They feel his loss keenly – the manner in which he lost his life,” Judge Codd said while referring to the family’s concern that Mr Gilchrist was left on the side of the road.

She said she hoped the evidence that the taxi-driver and his passenger stopped to give assistance to the victim would give some comfort to the teenager’s family. Judge Codd also commended these people for the help they offered Mr Gilchrist.

Judge Codd noted from the victim impact statement that Mr Gilchrist’s mother has said that “her heart will never heal”, which she said was “wholly understandable”.

The judge said the case law calls for the nature of the offending behaviour and personal circumstances to be the core issues for the sentencing court, while acknowledging that for the victim’s family the “deprivation of their loved one is permanent”.

“This is not a measure of the value of the deceased’s life but a measure of the accused’s culpability,” Judge Codd said.

She accepted a letter from Sores which indicated that he felt this was “a catastrophic and life-altering moment” for himself, that he thinks of Mr Gilchrist’s loss everyday and the part his actions play in the family’s “unimaginable grief”.

Judge Codd said Sores driving on the day was “not a momentary lapse but rather continued conduct”.

“If he had maintained and controlled his temper the accident would not have happened,” Judge Codd said before she added that Sores contributed directly and indirectly to Mr Gilchrist losing control of his motorbike and as the person in the car “he has to bear some greater level of responsibility”.

She noted in mitigation that Sores has no previous convictions and evidence that his behaviour that night was “an exception” to the way he had conducted his life both in Ireland and in his native Brazil. She accepted testimonials that described him as “respectful and hardworking – a person of good character” and was “never known as someone who is reckless or irresponsible”.

Judge Codd said a custodial sentence was warranted in the case as “a general deterrence” before she imposed a sentence of four years with the final year suspended for the offence of leaving the scene of an accident.

A concurrent term of 18 months was imposed for the offence of careless driving and Sores was banned from driving for seven years.

Both vehicles were on the incorrect side of the road, with forensic examiners estimating their speed at between 61 and 64km/hr on the 50km/hr road.

The examination found that Mr Gilchrist could not get back to the correct side of the road as Sores was tailgating him.

A taxi coming in the inbound lane attempted to take evasive action, but its efforts were hindered by the position of Sores’s car.

The motorbike collided with the taxi and both Mr Gilchrist and the passenger came off the bike, which collided with the wall of Glasnevin cemetery.

An autopsy determined that his cause of death were cranial injuries consistent with a road traffic collision. Mr Gilchrist was not wearing a helmet at the time of the collision, the court was told.

The passenger on the motorbike was treated in hospital for relatively minor injuries. He was also not wearing a helmet, the court heard.

The weather on the night was overcast with rain, and the road was wet, but well-lit.

The forensic examiner concluded that the root causes of the collision included the actions of the driver of the car and the motorcyclist, excessive speed and the road conditions.

The Toyota drove too close and did not leave sufficient distance to reduce speed, which forced the motorbike across the road. The car then followed the motorbike, cutting off its escape route.

The court was told that Sores did not remain at the scene following the accident. The garda witness noted that Sores was travelling “directly behind” and “the consequences of being behind is that you would see it happening”.

The taxi driver and passenger got out to help Mr Gilchrist.

Gardai identified the red Toyota using CCTV and tracked it to Sores’s address several months later. He had not come forward in the intervening period, during which several public appeals for information were made by gardai.

In January 2022, gardai called to his home and showed him a still from CCTV of the car at the traffic lights at Prospect Road. The car’s registration plate was visible in the footage, the court heard.

Sores confirmed it was his car and that he had been driving it on the night. He told gardai that an accident had already taken place on the Finglas Road and he just passed the scene.

Later that month, he made a voluntary statement to gardai. He said he was driving his Toyota that night and said that he came into contact with a motorbike carrying two men at Doyles Corner, travelling towards Glasnevin.

He said he didn’t see a collision and heard about it on the news the next day.

Sores made some limited admissions when he was interviewed again in May 2022 after the forensic collision report had been completed.

After showing him CCTV footage, gardai suggested that he was driving extremely close to the bike. Sores agreed and said “maybe I was too close. I never hit them, I was driving and he was braking”.

He said he was “maybe” driving too fast to get home and that it was raining and foggy.

He denied crossing onto the other side of the road and said he remained in his lane.

Sores took a trial date, which did not go ahead so the defence could obtain its own forensic collision report.

The case was listed for trial in November 2025, with all the witnesses and members of Mr Gilchrist’s family present. The defence made a proposal and it was accepted by the Director of Public Prosecution on a full facts basis.

David Perry BL, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement on behalf of Mr Gilchrist’s father Keith and his grandparents. Mr Gilchrist’s father said the family are heartbroken and devastated by his son’s death.

He said Calvin was a hard worker, who enjoyed life, loved his family and had his whole life ahead of him.

He said they will never get over the loss of “our beautiful Calvin” and their suffering was not made easier by the very late guilty plea.

Calvin’s father said they wonder if the driver had stopped and helped if Calvin might have survived.

In her statement, Mr Gilchrist’s mother Leanne said her entire world changed forever the moment she received the news of her son’s death.

She said it “haunts me every day how he died alone” and she wonders how things might have been different if the driver stopped to help.

She said Calvin was “left on the side of the road to die alone” and “no mother should have to imagine their child in that situation”.

She said the months before Sores was found were filled with “fear and confusion” as all they knew was that a red car was involved.

She described her son as a beautiful, outgoing person who made friends easily, loved football, holidays and concerts.

“It breaks my heart that my son never got to live the life he deserved,” she said.

The garda accepted a suggestion from Padraig Dwyer SC, defending, that his client appeared remorseful for his actions and has not come to other negative attention.

It was further agreed that the forensic examiner indicated several factors contributed to the collision and that the motorbike ended up on the wrong side of the road due to his client’s driving to some extent.

Mr Dwyer noted that the defence expert was of the view that the wheels of the car did not cross the white line, but the evidence is accepted.

Mr Perry said the garda forensic expert report was critical of some calculations and the methodology used in the defence report.

Mr Dwyer read a letter to the court from Mr Sores in which he expressed his condolences to Mr Gilchrist’s family and friends.

Mr Gilchrist’s mother and other members of the family left the courtroom while the letter was being read into the record.

Sores said that his heart is “truly heavy” and that he thinks about their loss every day.

He said he is “truly, deeply sorry” for events that day, which led to an “irreversible consequence”.

“After a long day at work, my sole intention was to return home safe to rest”.

He said he “failed to live up the standard of a responsible driver and a decent citizen” and will regret this for the rest of his life. He feels he has let down not only Mr Gilchrist’s family, but the entire community.

He said he had “always considered myself a careful and law-abiding citizen and driver” and he was a “working man who made a catastrophic error in a single life-altering moment”

Over 20 letters were handed to the court from Sores’s friends, family and acquaintances.

Mr Dwyer submitted that his client accepts his contribution to the circumstances which led to Mr Gilchrist’s death and will carry that for the rest of his life.

His client has a good work history. Mr Dwyer asked the court to consider imposing a fully suspended sentence.