Motorist (25) jailed for causing 'catastrophic harm' to recent retiree at petrol station

Eimear Dodd and Sonya McClean

A motorist who drove at a recently retired man in the forecourt of a petrol station, causing him “catastrophic and life-altering harm”, has been jailed for four and a half years.

Patrick McDonagh (25) clipped Michael Whitfield with his car over four years ago, causing Whitfield to fall backwards and strike his head off the ground, causing life-changing injuries, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Whitfield (now 66) was in an induced coma for five weeks following the collision and spent 10 months in Beaumont Hospital.

He also spent five months at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, before being transferred to a specialist care setting for people with brain injuries, where he remains a full-time patient. He requires full-time care, can't walk and struggles to speak.

Aideen Collard BL, prosecuting, told the court that the injured party suffered with hydrocephalus as a child, and this is regarded as a factor which has limited his recovery.

The court heard that the injured party enjoyed a normal life despite his underlying conditions, worked as a bookkeeper for 40 years and had taken early retirement to travel.

McDonagh, of St Margaret’s Park, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm at Clonshaugh Road, on November 3rd, 2021.

He had originally been charged with assault causing serious harm and had taken a trial date, but the Director of Public Prosecutions accepted a plea to the current charge.

McDonagh had no previous convictions at the time of this incident, but now has 17 previous convictions, including for drugs, road traffic offences and criminal damage.

Sentencing

He received a seven-year sentence in June 2025 at Tullamore Circuit Criminal Court for false imprisonment, assault causing harm, threats to kill and burglary. The court heard this related to an incident involving McDonagh and three other men during which an elderly man was assaulted and robbed in February 2024.

McDonagh's earliest release date for this sentence is January 2031.

Sentencing McDonagh on Friday, Judge Elma Sheahan said that if McDonagh had exercised a modicum of consideration and care for Whitfield, this tragedy would have been avoidable.

“There is no explanation as to why he failed to exercise that modicum of care and consideration,” the judge said, noting the incident occurred in “broad daylight” and there was no drink or drugs involved.

She said the harm caused to Whitfield was at the highest level, describing it as “catastrophic and life-altering”.

“His life as he knew it...is now over,” Judge Sheahan said. The victim impact statement before the court was “impressive, informative and very upsetting, all in equal measure”.

The judge set a headline sentence of six years, which she reduced to five years, taking mitigating factors into account. She said this sentence should run consecutively to the seven-year sentence McDonagh is currently serving.

She suspended the final six months on a number of conditions, including that McDonagh remain under the supervision of the Probation Service during this period.

“Imposing this sentence, I am conscious that any sentence imposed can't restore Whitfield to his previous good health,” she said.

Prosecution counsel told the court the dangerous driving charge arises as McDonagh continued to drive forward for a few seconds at a slow speed without attempting to brake, when the injured party would have been visible to him.