An elderly farmer who pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of a German national in County Mayo last year has been told to visit an optician and complete a pro-social driving test.
Andrea Gornowicz was 58 years old when she was killed in a three-car collision on the N17 at Castlemagarrett, near Claremorris, on May 16, 2024.
Martin Cullina (70) with an address at Irishtown, Co Mayo, was given a suspended sentence of seven months at a sitting of Castlebar Circuit Court today/yesterday (THURSDAY OCT 16th).
Passing sentence, Judge Eoin Garavan said it was a terrible tragedy resulting from a misjudgement by Cullina on a dangerous stretch of road between Ballindine and Claremorris.
‘A lot of people come before this court who have committed crimes and a lot of people come who have made mistakes. You made a serious mistake,’ he told Cullina.
The court heard Ms Gornowicz had lived in Ireland for 14 years and had worked at Tesco Claremorris for 11 years.
A victim impact statement by one of her friends said that herself and her area had been ‘robbed of one of our most kind and popular ladies’.
Ms Gornowicz’s friend said she was broken-hearted and that this loss and devastation would never end.
‘She loved life, she had so much more to do and so much planned,’ read the statement, adding that Ms Gornowicz had always put others before herself.
Sergeant Paul Connolly told Patrick Reynolds BL, prosecuting, that the collision happened shortly before midday when the victim’s car was stationary and indicating to turn right towards Ballindine.
Cullina was travelling from the same direction behind her and crashed into the back of Ms Gornowiecz’s car, spinning it to the opposite side of the road and into the path of an oncoming car.
Ms Gornowiecz was declared dead at the scene.
The driver of the third car suffered a back injury and was traumatised, the court heard.
Cullina told gardaí he had not seen Ms Gornowicz’s break lights or indicators, although a witness driving behind the accused said he had seen both break light and indicator.
Cullina has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since this offence.
He cooperated fully with gardaí and came forward with a signed plea at the earliest opportunity, the court heard.
Sgt Connolly agreed with Patrick Murphy BL, defending, that Cullina had expressed remorse from the outset and was very apologetic.
‘This has been a great source of guilt and shame and has had a very profound effect on him,’ said Mr Murphy BL.
The court heard that the offence was completely out-of-character for Cullina, who lives a very quiet life as a bachelor farmer on a modest farm of some 20 acres.
Cullina has a number of health difficulties and is on a waiting list for a hip replacement.
Judge Garavan accepted that Cullina had been traumatised himself and described him as a ‘decent, hard-working man.’
He said there was an entire absence of any aggravating factors: no speeding, no worn tyres, no intoxication nor any mechanical defect.
The judge said he decided not to disqualify Cullina from driving, noting he lived 8km from the nearest shopping town and any ban would make him more isolated.
Sgt Connolly agreed that it was a very dangerous stretch of road and that there had been a number of fatalities on it between January and July of last year.