LIMERICK GAA star Kyle Hayes could be heading to jail after he failed in his appeal against a dangerous driving conviction.
Last September a court heard he overtook a row of nine vehicles on a dual carriageway at 155kmph in a 100kmph area.
The Limerick GAA star could be facing jail as a result[/caption]
Hayes, 26, of Ballyashea, Kildimo, Co Limerick was previously convicted in March 2024 on two charges of violent disorder for which he received a two-year suspended sentence.
One of the conditions of the suspension was that he would not reoffend within two years.
But his failure in his appeal against the conviction of dangerous driving imposed in Mallow District Court means he faces being sent to prison as this is a triggering offence in relation to the suspended sentence.
Hayes admitted in the Circuit Criminal Appeals Court that he had been driving carelessly when he was seen by a Garda on speed monitoring duty overtaking the line of cars at high speed on the dual carriageway on the Cork to Mallow Road in July last year.
He previously offered to plead guilty in Mallow District Court last September to a lesser charge of careless driving, but after hearing the evidence the judge refused to reduce the charge.
The five-time All-Ireland winning hurler appeared in court in Cork today where Garda Deirdre Barrett described how she clocked him driving at the excessive speed of 150kph and how he ran out of lane as he sped past the line of traffic in his white high-powered Audi A6.
Judge Helen Boyle was told by Garda Barrett that she clocked Hayes driving at 155kph at 7:55pm on the dual carriageway towards Mallow on the N20.
He had to cut in front of the line of cars, causing them to brake, although she admitted she did not see any of them flash their lights or blow their horns.
She followed Hayes and he stopped.
She approached him and told him the speed, offering to show it to him on the hand held camera device which he declined.
PULLED OVER
When she told him she was arresting and charging him with dangerous driving he asked to speak “to a higher ranking officer”.
Hayes told her he did not realise how fast he was going.
He ran out of road and had to pull in front of the cars.
Judge Boyle said Hayes was driving at “full out speed to get in front of the first car. He did not believe he was dangerous driving but accepted he was speeding”.
But she said taking the “excessive” speed and the other factors into consideration she was satisfied the threshold for dangerous driving was breached and she upheld the district court conviction.
PENALTIES
The penalties imposed in Mallow whereby Hayes was banned from driving for two years and fined €250 were upheld.
The conviction will now be sent to Limerick Circuit Court for hearing next Wednesday, March 19, where it is a trigger for Hayes’ previous convictions of violent disorder after a man was attacked outside a Limerick nightclub and he was given a two-year suspended sentence last March.
Hayes was found guilty of the offences by a jury after a two-week trial in November last year.
He was handed the suspended two-year sentence for violent disorder outside the Icon nightclub in Limerick on October 28, 2019, and a concurrent 18-month suspended sentence for violent disorder inside the club.
Hayes was previously convicted in March 2024 on two charges of violent disorder for which he received a two-year suspended sentence[/caption]
