Mother of drink-drive victim calls for harsher sentences after Jennifer Thomas case in Cork
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As Jennifer Thomas spends the first weekend of a four-year sentence in prison, the case has already sparked calls for stiffer punishments for dangerous driving offences.
Ms Thomas, 46, of 10 Oakfield View, Glanmire, Cork, was sentenced on Thursday to five years, with the last year suspended, after she pleaded guilty to driving in a manner that was dangerous to the public, thereby causing the death of 50-year-old Sheila Dunne at Sarsfields Court on February 11.
The court was told that Ms Thomas had driven after drinking 12 alcoholic beverages on the day of the incident.
Reacting to the sentence, Waterford mum Christina Donnelly, whose son Brendan died in a crash that bore some similarities to the Thomas case, described the sentence imposed on Ms Thomas as “a disgrace”.
In her son’s case a man was sentenced to five years and disqualified from driving for 15 years as a result of the crash. The court heard he had consumed 20 beers, vodka, Aftershock and snorted a line of cocaine before the accident.
Ms Donnelly said:
"I have no idea what cloud the judges are on. It is such an insult to the victims and their families.”
She continued: “When I read the case of that beautiful lady (Sheila Dunne), it is absolutely atrocious. The sentence is not enough. Judges do not take into account the pain and suffering that victims’ families go through.
"The family of the person who committed the offence has to go through the pain as well. It is not their fault that their relative got in behind the wheel of a car and took a life. They have to suffer as well.”
She added: “You have to get on with it but you will never get over it. Brendan’s urn and his trainers are beside my bed. His clothes are in the wardrobe with mine. Anything that Brendan has touched are so precious.
"That is what myself and other families are left with — and photographs that stop at the age that the person was, who was taken away from you.”
She said that every fatality on Irish roads since her son’s loss serves as a painful reminder.
She explained: “Every time you hear of a fatality on the road, it brings it back to you and you are immediately stepping into the shoes of that family that have this awful long road to go down.
"I think one of the saddest things of all is how many times are we going to speak about these things — road safety campaigners, parents, the media — we have been doing all our level best to try to reduce our fatalities on the roads and have more awareness for drivers and the figures have been catastrophic.
"The message is not getting through. A very large percentage of drivers will drive with the utmost care and attention and then you will have the percentage that go out and don’t care and have no respect for human life.
"To get in behind the wheel, particularly with drink or drugs, or with mobile phone use, that is absolutely shameful. And to take a life or cause serious injury in the process is shocking.
“The only person responsible for that is the person who has committed the crime. They have no idea of the pain and the agony that they leave behind, when a loved one is taken from you.”
Ms Thomas, a mum of three, had driven a number of times on the day of February 11 before the fatal drive which led to the death of Ms Dunne. The vehicle she was driving crashed and turned over, causing catastrophic injuries to her friend and front-seat passenger.
The court also heard that on one occasion, while stopped in traffic that evening, she failed to drive off for over eight minutes, causing traffic from behind to beep and pass her. One motorist saw that she was asleep at the wheel.
It also emerged that the vehicle driven by Ms Thomas was subsequently seen going on to the incorrect side of the road and later stopping for five minutes. It hit a number of traffic cones, knocking them over, while two pedestrians narrowly escaped being hit by the vehicle.
Ms Thomas is a former model who then opened her own boutique, Love Life Fashion Fix, in Glanmire during the pandemic.
In an interview with in July 2021, she spoke of how she decided to leave behind her 12-year career in personal training after falling back in love with fashion. She had previously also worked as a beautician, as a dog rehab therapist, as a rep, and in retail.
“Trying on the clothes for the first modelling job as we were coming out of lockdown, I realised how it instantly made me feel so happy and I realised that I express myself through fashion, that I just adore it, and how I never want to be doing anything else,” she said.
She and a friend initially set up an online clothing business which then evolved into a boutique based initially in Glanmire, and subsequently in Cobh.
She was a well-known face from modelling on RTÉ’s and a prolific poster on social media for her business. Her last posts on her business page was on February 9, two days before the fatal crash.
In her Echo interview, she said: “Covid gave me that chance to slow down, to stop and figure it out. It’s a dream come true. I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. It all feels so easy, so natural, I literally jump out of bed in the morning. I’m so proud.”
This weekend, her future has taken a very different direction, with harsh criticism directed at her by Judge Helen Boyle during Thursday's sentencing.
Judge Boyle said: "It is not a crime to go out with your friend (and have a few drinks) but it is a crime to get behind wheel of the car. You could have had a designated driver or taxi or a bus or walked. Unfortunately, you sealed the fate of the passenger in that car, Ms Sheila Dunne.
“Alcohol is an aggravating factor and the sustained period of poor driving including a request from one person who knocked on your window and indicated you should pull in and park."