A 30-year old man who suffered life-changing injuries when a van was deliberately driven at him on a street in Longford has settled his High Court action for €2.85Million.
Father of two Stephen Roche who was catastrophically injured was in a coma for 16 days after the incident on the Main Street at Edgeworthstown, Co Longford four years ago.
The van a court previously heard was driven in a circle around Mr Roche and another man and on the second circle the driver drove at Mr Roche and knocked him over.
In June 2020 Aaron Cassidy (29) of Cranleymore, Edgeworthstown, Co Longford was jailed for dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to Mr Roche on September 10, 2017. Cassidy was also disqualified from driving for ten years.
Cassidy was sentenced to six years with the last twelve months suspended. The Court of Appeal later dismissed Cassidy's appeal against the sentence.
The High Court this week was told a large part of the settlement will go towards Mr Roche's future care needs. and the settlement money will be held in court.
The settlement is against the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) as Cassidy was uninsured at the time.
Stephen Roche of Mullingar, Co Westmeath had through his sister Tracey Golden sued the MIBI and the van driver Aaron Cassidy as a result of the incident on September 10,2017.
The Court of Appeal in dismissing Cassidy's appeal against sentence earlier this year and on hearing of the life-changing injuries suffered by Mr Roche said it was "entirely correct to place the offence near the highest end of the spectrum."
The court had heard Mr Roche suffered ongoing health problems including dizziness, blurred vision, as well as difficulties with reading and writing and he, will be on anti-epilepsy medicine for the rest of his life.]
