Coolock woman jailed after leading gardai on high speed chase

By Claire Henry

A woman who endangered the life of a garda during a high-speed chase which she live-streamed has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Gemma Greene (28) of Bunratty Road, Coolock, pleaded guilty to recklessly engaging in conduct in such a manner as to drive in the direction of a garda, who was out of his vehicle, forcing him to take evasive measures to stop him from being struck on the M50 motorway at junction 9 Northbound on March 1, 2021.

She also pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving on the same date in the Coolock and Ballymun areas.

Greene has four previous convictions, two of which are for road traffic matters and two for Covid-19 travel.

Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Martin Nolan said, “On the day in question, the defendant was driving and was instructed to stop her car by gardai.

“She proceeded to drive away around the county of Dublin for one hour at very high speeds”.

Judge Nolan said Greene reached speeds of 150km to 200km per hour and breached speed limits on numerous occasions.

He said that the pursuit ended when a stinger was deployed.

He noted that a garda had to take evasive action at one stage as the car was driven at him at high speed.

He said that “this garda could have been seriously injured or killed”.

The judge said the aggravating factor was that Greene drove this vehicle at high speed for an hour and disobeyed the gardai.

Judge Nolan said he was being as lenient as possible, but a prison sentence had to be imposed.

He sentenced Greene to two years in prison. He also disqualified her from driving for four years.

Garda Rob Hogan told Maddie Grant, BL, prosecuting, that on the day in question, at 6 pm, gardai observed Greene driving a white Mercedes dangerously on the M50.

Greene failed to stop her car and continued to drive dangerously while under an active garda pursuit by road and by garda air support.

CCTV footage from the garda helicopter was played to the court, and it showed three patrol cars in pursuit with their blue lights activated.

The court heard Greene travelled at speeds up to 200km per hour and drove at excess speeds in 50km zones and pedestrian areas.

The gardai deployed stringers on multiple occasions, but Greene was able to avoid them.

Greene put her mobile phone out of the car window during the chase and live-streamed the incident.

Gda Hogan said members of the Garda Armed Support Unit stopped traffic near Junction 9 Northbound.

Garda Sergeant Darren Blackwall had left his patrol car to deploy the stinger.

Greene drove towards the hard shoulder to avoid the stinger.

Gda Sgt Blackwall had to take evasive action to avoid being struck by Greene.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Greene was stopped at 6.50 p.m.

She was arrested, detained, and charged.

Gda Hogan agreed with Gregory Murphy BL, defending, that his client has abided by all her bail conditions and that her guilty plea was of value to the prosecution.

The garda agreed with counsel that Greene was in a relationship with someone who was known to the gardai, and two days before this incident, both Greene and her then-partner were issued with an official warning from gardai of a threat to their lives.

Mr Murphy said his client has deep, sincere remorse and that her actions on the day were out of character.

He added that on the day in question, Greene had taken cocaine.

Counsel said Greene had a very troubled youth and began to use cannabis at the age of 14.

One of Greene’s sisters told her defence counsel that her sister had been in a relationship where she was being controlled.

He said his client wished to apologise to all the gardai involved on the day, and she offered an apology for putting so many people’s lives in danger.

Mr Murphy said his client has had two children since this incident in 2021, is no longer taking drugs and is in stable accommodation.

He said that at the time of this offence, his client said that she “had nothing to live for”.

He asked the court to consider a suspended sentence with strict conditions and said, “this is a mistake that she will have to live with for the rest of her life”.