The jury in a trial heard yesterday how a young woman narrowly avoided being crushed by an out-of-control vehicle by leaping into a stairwell and then cowering from a shower of broken car parts.
The driver of the vehicle, which was left almost cut in two after slamming and embedding itself into a signpost, was not so fortunate. Nineteen-year-old Patrick Browne from Dangan Court in Galway lost his life in a three vehicle road traffic accident at Sean Mulvoy Road on December 12, 2008.
The Galway Circuit Criminal Court heard how Darragh McGuigan (20 ) with an address at 20 Greenfields Road, Galway, now stands accused of dangerous driving causing death. The first day of the trial heard yesterday how a Honda Civic, driven by the deceased, and a Toyota Trueno, driven by the accused, had taken an exit off Bodkin roundabout for Sean Mulvoy Road. At around 8.30am the two speeding cars were seen by witnesses weaving in and out of traffic and then side by side before they lost control. The Honda Civic collided with a large signpost while the Toyota Trueno crossed the central median, onto the opposite road, and collided with an on-coming Fiat Marea.
One witness, Sarah Kenny, spoke of how close she came to being seriously injured. The pedestrian had been texting on her phone when she looked up and saw two cars coming at her at “fairly fast speed”. She had just reached the ESB offices when she saw the Honda Civic “wobbling” and hitting the other car clipping the back of it. The two cars started spinning and then the Honda Civic came towards Ms Kenny.
“I saw a stairwell. I jumped in there to get out of the way. I clipped my hip on the wall there and fell over it. I felt bits of the car come on top of me. I jumped in just behind the signpost,” said Ms Kenny, who then described how she then saw the Honda Civic “wrapped around the pole” and tried to help the driver by talking to him.
Mr Saud Bajwa, a consultant anaesthetist with UHG, had been driving his son to school that morning. He gave evidence that when he took the exit off the roundabout for Sean Mulvoy Road, he heard the noise of engines and that two cars overtook him.
“They came in front of me and were accelerating pretty quickly. I was quite concerned that they could injure someone. The Honda Civic then started spinning around and was facing me. Small pieces, like a shower, went up into the air... It was broken pieces from the car. I stopped my car, got out and rang 999. I looked at the driver [of the Honda Civic], he was unconscious and there was shallow breathing,” said Mr Bajwa, who then administered CPR but after working on Mr Browne for 35 to 40 minutes could not get a pulse. He pronounced the victim dead at 9.05am.
Under questioning by defence barrister Paul Flannery SC, Mr Bajwa said that the two cars had been speeding side by side for some distance and were nearly at the next roundabout when the car in front of him started to spin. Mr Bajwa added that he did not know how the accident happened.
The driver of the Fiat Marea, Mr Peter Walsh, gave evidence that he had just passed the Topaz petrol station when the accident happened. “All I can remember is an explosion... It was a violent impact. My car was destroyed. The fire brigade had to cut me out,” he said.
A pedestrian Ms Therese Matazuk spoke of how her attention had been drawn by the speed of the two cars. She said: “They were driving very close, It was like they were racing.”
Reading from her notes, Garda Noelle Kilduff said that when questioned McGuigan said: “There was no racing... I went to go by. I was hit on my left fender. I had no intention of racing. He hit me first.”
The trial was still continuing at time of going to press.
