A 19-year-old-student who was struck by a mini bus collecting people from a nightclub, was before Belmullet District Court on Wednesday for the charge of being drunk and a danger to himself and others.
Pat McAndrew said that on October 25 last year at 2.45am he was driving to Geesala to pick up passengers. The driver of the bus described the night as windy, drizzly and dark, as he drove his van along the narrow road at 50kph. Mr McAndrew noticed cars coming towards him and also saw “two white things over the side of the bank”. The driver then heard a bump, stopped the van and went back to see what he had hit. Mr McAndrew realised that the “white things” were runners and he had hit Nicholas Carolan, Church Road, Bangor, Erris.
Carolan told the court that after the nightclub, where he consumed a total of five drinks the entire night, he decided to walk the eight miles home as his friend had taken his car. Carolan decided to take a break and sat on a grass bank, when he was hit. The injuries sustained resulted in Carolan having a pin placed from his knee to ankle and he had to take eight months off from playing GAA.
Judge Mary Devins said the case had not been proved and it was dismissed.
