A 43-year-old truck driver from the Czech Republic, who was found guilty of careless driving causing the death of one man and injuring two others in Co Sligo in 2015, has been banned from driving for seven years and fined a total of €4,000.

Following a three-week trial at Sligo Circuit Court last year, Vlastimil Zachar, with an address in Newbridge, Co Kildare, was found not guilty of dangerous driving but guilty of careless driving causing the death of Padraig Noone.

Mr Noone was one of a number of Sligo County Council workers clearing grass verges on the N4 near Castlebaldwin on 13 August 2015 when an articulated lorry being driven by Mr Zachar veered into the hard shoulder and hit a council truck and JCB.

Mr Noone, a 62-year-old married man with two adult daughters, was pronounced dead at the scene, and two of this colleagues were injured.

During his trial, evidence was given that Mr Zachar did not remember what had happened but following the accident he was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnoea.

At Sligo Circuit Court yesterday Judge Francis Comerford  said he accepted the defendant had fallen asleep and said this was not a case which warranted a custodial sentence.

He imposed fines totalling €4,000 and a 7-year driving ban.