A motorist has been fined €10,000 for driving away from the scene of a fatal incident without stopping to render assistance or call the emergency services in the first prosecution of its type taken under recently-introduced road legislation.

Antonio Altivo De Oliveira Filho (24), with addresses in Loughrea, Co Galway, and more recently Tone Street, Ballina, pleaded guilty to failing to report the accident which occurred at Cuscarrig, Loughrea, on April 23th last year

Filho, a Brazilian national, is accused of being the driver of a car which was involved in causing injury to cyclist John White (68) and, knowing injury had been caused which required medical assistance, failed to notify gardaí or report the incident as the nearest Garda station, so that Mr White might be taken to hospital for medical assistance, contrary to section 106, subsection (3) (A) and (B) of the Road Traffic Act 1961, as amended by section 17 of the Road Traffic Act 2014.

Filho pleaded guilty to the charge at Galway Circuit Criminal Court last December and the case was adjourned for sentence.

Prosecuting barrister Conor Fahy said this was the first ever prosecution for this type of offence, and the maximum penalties were a fine of €10,000 and/or seven years in prison.

The court heard that late Mr White was cycling along the Loughrea to Gort road at 8.38pm when he was struck from behind by a car which did not stop. Another motorist, who had just overtaken Mr White, looked in his rear-view mirror and saw the cyclist being thrown into the air. He recorded the registration number of Filho’s car and went back to assist Mr White, who suffered head and chest injuries and was pronounced dead in hospital the following morning.

Filho told gardaí he panicked and that was why he left the scene. He expressed deep remorse for his actions. He said he was in the country illegally, and wished to go back to Brazil as soon as possible if given a chance to do so.

Mr Fahy told the court the deceased man, who was single and lived alone, was wearing dark clothing at the time and was not wearing a high-visibility jacket.

Judge Rory McCabe said the interests of justice would not be served by imposing a custodial sentence and he imposed the maximum fine of €10,000.

He disqualified the accused for two years, taking charges of not having insurance or a driving licence at the time into account.