A motorist who was speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road when she killed a popular club cyclist near Dublin has been spared jail, after the judge ruled that her “culpability in relation to dangerous driving is on the lower side”.

On Wednesday, Marcella Duffy was handed a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence, fully suspended, and disqualified from driving for six years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, following a collision which killed cyclist John Walsh last year.

Walsh, a solicitor and member of UCD Cycling Club, was cycling on Malahide Rd, Kinsealy, north Dublin, near his home in Malahide, on the morning of Sunday 18 February 2024 when he was struck head-on by Duffy, who was travelling at 12kph above the speed limit and had veered onto the wrong side of the road before crashing into the cyclist.

Passers-by rushed to help the married father-of-three, who was taken to hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Malahide Road, Kinsealy, north Dublin
Malahide Road, Kinsealy, north Dublin (Image Credit: Google Street View)

Following the collision, Duffy waited at the scene, telling gardaí that she could not remember how the crash happened. The 62-year-old motorist also told officers that she had spent the previous night in hospital with her son and had left at 9am, just 30 minutes before the fatal collision.

Following her guilty plea, Eoin Lawlor SC, acting for Duffy, who he described as “very remorseful”, told the court this week that spending the night in hospital was a “tiring event” and suggested that this had played a role in his client’s driving.

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Sentencing Duffy, Judge Martin Nolan noted that the motorist was driving at 62kph in a 50kph zone at the time of the crash, which he described as “somewhat over the limit”. Nolan also pointed out that the speed limit on that section of the Malahide Road had just been lowered from 60kph to 50kph.

“It seems to me for whatever reason, she lost control and allowed her car to stray,” the judge added. “Her culpability in relation to dangerous driving is on the lower side.”

Nolan told the court that he could not find any aggravating factors in the case and argued that Duffy was “unlikely” to offend again, citing her cooperation with gardaí, her guilty plea, and her lack of previous convictions.

The judge also said that, when sentencing, the court must look for intentional factors to determine the level of culpability, and said he could not “identify any such factor in this case”, prompting him to fully suspend the 62-year-old’s two-and-a-half-year prison sentence, sparing her any time in jail.

John Walsh (middle, in blue) sprinting during a race in Ireland
John Walsh (middle, in blue) sprinting during a race in Ireland (Image Credit: UCD Cycling Club)

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Walsh’s wife Olivia described the cyclist, who was in his 40s, as “devoted” to his family and his three sons, who would now spend “their entire lives without their adoring father”.

“John wanted them so much. He wanted to be a present, active, loving dad in every moment of their lives. He was devoted to them,” the statement read.

Speaking to the media following the sentencing, Mrs Walsh reflected on the impact her husband’s death has had on her family.

“It was tragic and sudden and no words and nothing can ever change how brutal it has been,” she said.

“The joy he brought with his mischievous grin and the glint in his eye. It is that we will cling on to as we move forward.”

Mrs Walsh said the family would take time to reflect on the sentence issued to Duffy, but admitted she now felt a sense of closure following the conclusion of the legal process.

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Mr Walsh was the second member of UCD Cycling Club to be killed in a collision involving an oncoming motorist in the space of a year.

24-year-old Gabriele Glodenyte, winner of the 2022 Cycling Ireland National Road Series, was killed while training with her partner Seán Landers near Garristown, north Co Dublin, in May 2023, the pair having stopped at the roadside away from each other.

Landers arrived on the scene moments later to see a driver getting out of their car and Gabriele’s bike “really messed up” and the cyclist nowhere to be seen.

Gabriele Glodenyte wins a stage of the Newry Three Day in 2022
Gabriele Glodenyte wins a stage of the Newry Three Day in 2022 (Image Credit: Sharon McFarland)

In a tragic and moving piece with The Irish Times published a few months after her death, Landers recalled finding Gabriele in a ditch and doing CPR during the wait for an ambulance, before describing the roads as a “war zone”.

The circumstances surrounding Gabriele’s death remain unclear, however. In August, over two years on from the fatal crash, investigating Gardaí finally completed their inquiry, sending their file on the case to the director of public prosecutions (DPP).

It is now up to the DPP’s office to decide if criminal charges should be pursued and, if so, what those charges would be, though there is no time limit as to when this decision will be made.