Grandmother died 16 days after Offaly road collision

Suspended sentence for former Coolderry hurler who escaped driving ban but must pay €5,000 after guilty plea at Tullamore Circuit Court

Published 16th Jun 2026, 21:00 BST Sentencing hearing at Tullamore Circuit Court | Tribune Pictures Suspended sentence for former Coolderry hurler who escaped driving ban but must pay €5,000 after guilty plea at Tullamore Circuit Court Sign up to our Offaly Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Offaly Live within your account.

TULLAMORE Circuit Court heard how a woman died 16 days after the car she was driving was hit by another car on the N62 road at Glasderrymore, Co Offaly on January 29, 2023.

Judge Keenan Johnson was told a Renault Clio driven by the late Una Raleigh (73) was struck by a Ford Mondeo driven by Des Teehan (59), Monafadda, Coolderry , after he had come onto the main Birr - Roscrea road from the Brosna junction.

Mr Teehan received a suspended six-month sentence on Friday and was ordered to pay €5,000 to a charity chosen by the Raleigh family in memory of their mother.

Judge Johnson exercised his discretion and did not disqualify Mr Teehan from driving after being told he had no previous convictions of any kind.

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A sentencing hearing was told Mr Teehan, a former Coolderry and Offaly hurler, had initially been charged with dangerous driving causing death but subsequently pleaded guilty by agreement with the DPP to the lesser charge of careless driving causing serious bodily harm to Ms Raleigh.

Garda Jennifer Crawley gave evidence of statements made by witnesses and said Paul Du Berry had been driving with his wife Geraldine on the same road on the same day. The speed limit on the road was 100km/h and the weather on that afternoon was described as dry and bright.

Mr Du Berry said he rounded a bend before Gloster House and saw Des Teehan's car 100 yards ahead of him exiting from the right side of the road towards the right and crashing into Ms Raleigh's vehicle which had been coming from Roscrea . “Mr Du Berry said it was very clear to him Des Teehan had paid no attention to what traffic was coming from his right hand side,” said Garda Crawley.

Mr Du Berry saw damage to the front of the Ford and the passenger side of the Renault and after he pulled up and got out of his vehicle he saw that Ms Raleigh was out of hers.

Geraldine Du Berry brought her to sit in their car and they stayed there until the gardai, fire service and an off duty paramedic arrived, followed by Ms Raleigh's son Eamon.

Ms Du Berry said Una Raleigh had been trembling and was anxious to ring her son. An off duty paramedic arrived and examined Ms Raleigh and she was awake and lucid and physically well.

Mr Teehan was on his phone and then came over and shook Ms Raleigh's hand and said “I'm very sorry”.

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Garda Crawley told the court that David Long, the advanced paramedic who had come upon the accident, checked Ms Raleigh and called an ambulance but was told by the woman that she did not want one.

She had a slight burn mark around her mouth from the air bag and went home without taking the ambulance after she was medically checked.

When Eamon Raleigh arrived he was told by his mother that she was fine but her shoulder was a little sore. She told him she would not wait for an ambulance and he brought her home, staying with her for three or four hours “in case she took a turn” and then returned the next morning.

Ms Raleigh became unwell with a headache at 12.30pm on February 8 and at 7pm that day Eamon Raleigh got a call from Portlaoise Hospital telling him she was there and she was very ill.

Mr Raleigh was subsequently told she'd had a massive bleed to the brain and she died on February 14.

Garda Crawley gave further evidence that Una Raleigh had no visible injury at the scene and said she had been travelling from Roscrea to Birr when the Mondeo pulled onto the road and though she tried to evade it she collided with it. Garda Crawley said the junction was governed by a stop sign and that was acknowledged by Mr Teehan.

When she spoke to Des Teehan he said he wasn't injured. Both driver passed breath tests and examinations of the vehicles found them roadworthy.

A post mortem was carried out on the body of Ms Raleigh the day after her death and a medical report from it said she had complained of “severe headache” on February 8 and had been involved in a high impact road traffic accident on January 29.

The report said she suffered a head injury and when she got the severe headache she was referred by her GP to the emergency department. She had slept poorly since the accident and while in hospital she had hypertension.

The conclusion of the consultant histopathologist was that death was due to brain stem haemorrhage following a recent road traffic accident.

Another report from a consultant neuropathologist at Beaumont Hospital said death was due to brain stem haemorrhage with hyper tension as the likely cause.

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The court was further told that when Mr Teehan was interviewed by the gardai in a garda station he said he stopped at the stop sign and looked left and right and saw it clear both ways.

He turned right and was over on the opposite side when a car was travelling towards him and it seemed its driver “panicked” and both cars struck head on.

He said he knew he was only travelling at a low speed and he felt the other vehicle was travelling “much faster” because it turned his bigger car around.

He said he went to see the driver of the other car and spoke to her and she “seemed to be ok”. He noticed she was wearing slippers.

Replying to Colm Smyth, SC, for Mr Teehan, Garda Crawley confirmed that the DPP had accepted the man's plea to the lesser charge.

Shane Geraghty, BL, prosecuting, agreed with Judge Johnson that there was a slight conflict between the two medical reports.

Judge Johnson said when there is a conflict the court had to see it in favour of the accused.

Mr Geraghty said there was also a report from a GP and it indicated Ms Raleigh had a history of elevated cholesterol and anxiety over the years.

She had stopped taking her blood pressure medication and in 2022 her blood pressure was measured a number of times and was variously 130 over 80 and 120 over 80. In August of that year she attended the doctor for a cut over her eye after she tripped over her dog.

It was not until February 8, 2023 that her blood pressure, at 180 over 100, was elevated. There were no specific issues with her general health before that.

Judge Johnson remarked: “Overall her blood pressure was generally pretty good.” He added: “I accept there was a serious trauma caused by the accident. It's a tragedy, there's no question about it.”

In an emotional victim impact statement which she delivered in person in court, the late Ms Raleigh's daughter Claire, said she was living in Seattle at the time of the collision.

“When I received the call I was thousands of miles away from my mother and my family,” she said. The journey home took 15 hours and was extremely stressful because she did not know if she would arrive in time to see her mother.

“The worry and fear during that journey was overwhelming. This is a memory that has stayed with me.”

She said her mother suffered a brain bleed as a result of the collision and over the days that followed Una Raleigh's condition deteriorated.

Claire Raleigh said she had to return to Seattle after her mother's death and experienced a sense of isolation because she was so far from home and away from her family while she grieved. Ms Raleigh outlined how important a role her mother played in the lives of her grandchildren, who still ask about her, and added that the deceased was also the primary carer for her father, who was living with dementia.

“He would often ask where my mother was and when she was coming back,” she said. It was heartbreaking having to repeatedly explain that she had died. His health declined after her death and he passed away more than a month ago.

Claire Raleigh said losing both parents in such circumstances was overwhelming. She said her mother's absence was felt every day and her death set in motion a chain of grief and altered her own life and the life of her family.

She thanked all who assisted on the day of the collision and Judge Johnson praised her for her “insightful and heartfelt” statement. “Clearly your mother was a wonderful lady, much loved and greatly missed,” he said.

Mr Teehan also spoke to the court, saying he apologised deeply for causing the accident and the hurt it had caused. He said he had been driving since he was 17 or 18 and currently worked in Portlaoise with a pharmaceutical company.

Mr Teehan's counsel asked the judge to show leniency and exercise his discretion and not disqualify the man who had acknowledged making a serious lapse of judgement.

A character reference from a chairman of Coolderry GAA club, Brian Hensey, a brother-in-law of the accused, was read in court.

Mr Hensey wrote that Mr Teehan had been a valued member of the community who was very much involved in the local club and school.

He represented his club and county “with distinction” and after his playing career came to an end he helped develop future generations of hurlers and continued to give his time to the club. Mr Hensey described Mr Teehan as an honest man with a strong work ethic.

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The court was told by Mr Geraghty that the maximum penalties for the offence were a two-year prison sentence and a fine of €10,000.

Judge Johnson, who viewed photographs taken at the scene of the collision, said there was “quite a good view” from the junction where Mr Teehan had come from and while the driving of Ms Raleigh was faultless, it was clear to the court the collision was due to the accused's lapse of judgement “in that he didn't give an adequate look-out and didn't stop as he should have”.

He said there was some controversy about the exact cause of Ms Raleigh's death and added that it was “probably somewhere in between” hypertension and an injury to the brain because of the accident.

He said the victim's subsequent symptoms blind sided everybody and nobody anticipated what was going to happen to her. “To a certain extent it was an unforeseeable tragedy in the aftermath of the accident.”

The judge said Mr Teehan's driving was an aggravating factor in sentencing and the effect on the victim and her family was huge and profound.

In mitigation, Mr Teehan had pleaded guilty, had admitted responsibility at the scene and apologised, had no previous convictions and was at low risk of reoffending. He said the offending was at the midrange and would attract a one-year sentence, reduced to six months after mitigation.

The six-month sentence is suspended for three years on condition Mr Teehan keeps the peace and pays the €5,000 to charity within a month.

Judge Johnson said that a disqualification would be imposed if Mr Teehan was not a fit person to hold a driving licence but in this case the court was not convinced the criteria for a ban had been met.

“It's a most unusual case, a tragic case,” concluded the judge.

Related topics: Tullamore Circuit Court Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise Coolderry Sign up to our Offaly Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Offaly Live within your account.