A woman has been jailed for seven years after her car ploughed into a crowd after she had taken drugs and alcohol on the same night.
Chloe McNamara, 21, drove her red Audi A4 into people outside a nightclub in Limerick in the early hours of October 10 last year.
She then fled the scene and admitted to talking drugs and alcohol.
Garda Patricia McCormack witnessed the accident, and described how paramedics were treating people "lying on the road".
The incident caused three people to be taken to the University Hospital Limerick by ambulance with one man subjected to "serious head and spinal injuries".
Two women were also reported to have serious injuries to their neck and back, and another presented herself at the hospital.
McNamara pleaded guilty to failing to assist a pedestrian at the scene, assault causing harm, endangerment, dangerous driving and intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm.
Judge Tom O’Donnell agreed the victims had "no chance" and she had used her car as "a weapon" outside the nightclub.
Failing to stop, McNamara's Audi was found near the suburbs of Moyross a few minutes after the incident.
Her total sentence is nine years with the final two suspended and she was also given a 15-year driving ban.
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