Hurling star Kyle Hayes banned from driving for two years

A judge convicted Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes of dangerous driving and put him off the road for two years after finding him guilty of one count of dangerous driving on the N20 Cork-Limerick road on July 14. 

He was also fined €250.

Mallow District Court heard Mr Hayes, who has no previous convictions for dangerous driving and had held a previously clean driving licence, drove at 155kms in a 100km speed limit zone while overtaking nine cars, at Lissavoura, Grenagh, near Mallow.

Judge Colm Roberts told the five-time All-Ireland winning hurler: “Speed kills, and this was excessive and dangerous speed.”

Judge Roberts said the case merited conviction for dangerous driving, and not for a lesser offence of careless driving which Hayes had offered to plead guilty to. Judge Roberts said that, in convicting Hayes of the more serious offence of dangerous driving, “I am actually trying to keep him (Mr Hayes) alive”.

“There are too many deaths on the roads, and he (Mr Hayes) might think he’s (the) chosen (one) and that things won’t go wrong for him, but things do go wrong,” the judge said.

Mr Hayes’ barrister, Liam Carroll BL, told the judge that his client conceded he was speeding at 155kms  in a 100km speed zone.

“This was a lapse of judgement on his (Mr Hayes’s) part. It was an error, it was a mistake,” said Mr Carroll.

However, in response to this, Judge Roberts told the barrister: “This was beyond that. I can’t accept in any way his (Mr Hayes’) actions were not dangerous, and I’m satisfied to convict him of dangerous driving.”

Garda Deirdre Barrett gave evidence that she was conducting a speed check of vehicles travelling on the road, and whilst monitoring nine vehicles which were all travelling under the speed limit, she said she observed Mr Hayes’ 191 registered white coloured Audi A6 overtaking all nine vehicles on approach to a section of the road which narrows from two lanes to one.

Garda Barrett said Mr Hayes was driving at “high speed” as he overtook the cars.

Garda Barrett said when she eventually stopped Hayes further up the road in her marked patrol car, Mr Hayes told her he didn’t realise he had been speeding.

Garda Barrett told the court that Mr Hayes, as well as an unidentified passenger in his car, told her that they believed the speed limit for dangerous driving in Limerick was 160kms.  Mr Hayes’ barrister, Mr Carroll said Mr Hayes denied saying this to the garda.

Mr Hayes told Garda Barrett he had been in west Cork and was returning home to Limerick.

Garda Barrett arrested Mr Hayes, of Ballyashea, Kildimo, at the roadside and brought him to Mallow garda station and charged him with dangerous driving.

Mr Carroll BL said Mr Hayes’s explanation for speeding was that “he ran out of road”, and that, “in an attempt to get out of the way of the other cars, he increased his speed”.

The court heard that driving conditions, the condition of the road and the roadworthiness of Mr Hayes’ car were all good on the day.

Garda Barrett told Mr Carroll there have been “a lot of collisions” on the same stretch of road over the years.

Mr Hayes sat in the witness box and told the court he travels on the same road “a couple” of times a year. He said he was driving behind cars that were all “travelling under the speed limit” and he indicated to overtake them, but that he hadn’t realised the dual lane road was also merging up ahead of him.

Mr Hayes said he “sped up to get ahead” of the last car because he “didn't want to cut him off”.

Mr Hayes admitted he did not notice a number of road signs indicating the lanes were merging.

Mr Hayes told judge Roberts: “I thought I had more space.”

Answering the judge, Mr Hayes acknowledged that overtaking nine cars was an “exception” to the rule.

Mr Hayes agreed with the judge that speed was a “serious issue causing deaths on the roads”.

Mr Hayes nodded in agreement with Judge Roberts that speeding and not taking into account the amount of traffic on a road were all “likely to be dangerous” behaviour when driving.

Mr Hayes agreed with Judge Roberts that he was driving a “powerful car” and that cars in general are “killing machines”.

Mr Hayes said his driving on the day was “definitely careless” and he agreed with the judge that he “didn’t take extra care” of his surroundings.

“He (Hayes) could have happily stayed behind the other cars - he’s obliged to take account of it - but he didn't just overtake one car, he didn't just overtake two cars, he had nine cars to consider, he could have slowed down, but he chose to speed up...that’s more dangerous,” the judge said.

Judge Roberts said Mr Hayes was “unfortunate” because, in his opinion, Mr Hayes’ case appeared to be the only case before the court that a gathering of attending journalists were present to report on.

The judge said it was “funny they (the media) turn up for this type of case” when he said other more serious cases were before him recently “and not one member of the media was in court for it”.

“Mr Hayes is getting additional attention because of who he is and I understand that,” Judge Roberts said.

At this point, a member of the public applauded, to which the judge replied he was “not looking” for claps.

The judge told the members of the media present in the courtroom that he also understood they had their job to do. 

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Sergeant Majella O’Sullivan told the court that Hayes’s dangerous driving conviction, which he has indicated he will appeal, had triggered a “Section 99” previous conviction for violent disorder.

Judge Roberts fixed recognisance in the event of an appeal and he returned Mr Hayes to Limerick Circuit Criminal Court for consideration of activation of the two-year suspended sentence imposed on him last March, after he was convicted by a jury of two counts of violent disorder inside and outside the Icon nightclub, Limerick city, on October 28, 2019.

Mr Hayes was found not guilty by the jury of one count of assault causing harm to another man on the same date at the same location.