Christmas Eve: Drink-driving nurse jailed for killing grandfather
- Published
Katrina Mahoney was found to have 73 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than twice the legal limit
A nurse from Merthyr Tydfil has been sentenced to five years in prison after killing a great-grandfather on Christmas Eve while drink driving.
Katrina Mahoney hit 82-year-old Ron Fealey with her car as he crossed the street in the town on 24 December 2022.
The former nurse died in hospital from his injuries two days later.
Mahoney, 34, who was twice the legal limit and failed to stop, pleaded guilty to death by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol.
Prosecutor Andrew Jones told Merthyr Crown Court that "Katrina Mahoney was driving at double the speed limit and twice over the drink drive limit when she failed to stop after hitting Mr Fealey.
"She only returned to the scene after first dropping home her teenage son who was in the car with her at the time."
The court heard Mr Fealey had visited the Winchester pub in Merthyr Tydfil that night after attending a Christmas Eve church service.
He'd had three pints in two hours at the pub and, having left at 22:00 GMT, crossed the Avenue De Clichy at a pedestrian crossing.
The court heard it was a dark and wet evening and he had not pressed the button on the crossing so the light had been on green for cars and red for pedestrians.
Ron Fealey's grieving family James, Michael and Rachel Fealey outside court
Mr Jones added, "It was highly likely that Mr Fealey would not have seen the car when he started crossing the road because the defendant was travelling at 40mph - double that road's speed limit."
The court heard Mahoney did not stop at the scene, instead returning home and leaving Mr Fealey unconscious and bleeding in the road.
She returned 10 minutes later, with the windscreen of her Nissan Qashqai shattered, after dropping off her teenage son and picking up a colleague.
Katrina Mahoney told a police officer on the night: "I'm a nurse - he'll be on my ward.
"He wandered in front of my car and the lights were on green. "I immediately went to get my colleague who's also a trauma nurse and returned straight away."
The officer smelt alcohol on her breath, to which she replied she'd had a cocktail containing Malibu and Baileys.
The court heard she was found to have 73 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than twice the legal limit.
Mr Fealey was transferred to intensive care at University Hospital of Wales where doctors said it was extremely unlikely he would recover from the traumatic head injuries and he was pronounced dead on Boxing Day.
James Fealey told the court his grandad had been a "father figure," adding that his own father had died in a tragic accident at work when he was six years old.
"He was always my father figure and a figure of resilience - his death has left me feeling truly lost," he said.
"All the wisdom and advice Ron would offer has been stolen away from me. Christmas is now a time of dread for me. That phone call from police shattered Christmas forever."
Mr Fealey's son Michael, also a retired nurse, told the court through a victim impact statement: "It is incomprehensible that the woman driving the car is a qualified nurse, like me and my father.
"She just left him in the road and did not call 999 - one selfish individual has ruined our Christmases through drink driving."
Upon sentencing, Judge Lucy Crowther told Mahoney, "If you had you been driving at the speed limit you could have stopped in time.
"Your windscreen was smashed, your car was damaged and you must have known what you had done.
"But rather than stop and help you left Mr Fealey in the road unconscious and in danger of being hit by another car.
"Thankfully other people stopped to help. Something you did not."
The court heard Mahoney had 73 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than twice the legal limit. She was also disqualified from driving for seven and a half years.