A Ballyheane man who was involved in an accident between a van and a car was disqualified from driving for two years in his absence. Judge Mary Devins heard the case in the absence of the defendant, Liam Murray, Cornaveagh, Ballyheane, Castlebar.
Ailish Marren told the court she was driving through the village of Ballyheane on April 20 2011 from the Castlebar direction and had stopped on the road and indicated right to cross the road to enter the filling station in the village. There were three vehicles coming behind her, the first was what looked like an ESB van, then a car, and then another yellow van. She told the court she had to stop on the road before she turned into the filling station as there was traffic coming from the other direction. When that traffic passed she started to turn right and then felt a large bang and smash into the back and glass all over her car. The next thing she remembered was a woman opening the door of her car and asking if she was OK and if she had any pain. After saying she was feeling pain in her back and neck, the woman, who identified herself as a nurse, told her to remain in the car. She also told the court that she remembered the first van and then the car passing her on her inside as she waited to turn into the filling station.
Ms Catherine Taylor in her evidence to the court identified herself as the woman who had gone to Ms Marren after the accident. She told the court she was turning out of the filling station heading towards Castlebar and saw a yellow van passing her at speed on the other side of the road. No sooner had she turned on to the road than she heard such a loud smash she thought her car had been hit, but when she looked back she saw Ms Marren’s car and the yellow van. She said that Ms Marren’s car had been smashed right in at the back. She pulled in her car and went back to see if everyone was OK. There were a number of staff from the filling station on the scene and one of them told her they had rung the Gardaí and the ambulance.
Garda John Paul Dunning said he arrived on the scene at around 10am and both vehicles had been moved off the road and into the forecourt of the filling station, but there were skid marks on the road where the accident occurred. He took a statement from both women at the scene and at a later date took a cautioned statement from Murray. In Murray’s statement Murray said he had not been driving at speed and that his father was in the van with him at the time. However when Judge Devins questioned both the previous witnesses about Murray’s father being with him, both said that Murray was driving by himself at the time of the accident.
Judge Mary Devins said it was a very clear case on the evidence and she convicted and fined Murray €600 and disqualified him from driving for two years for dangerous driving. She also convicted and fined him €50 for having no L plates, €170 for having no certificate of road worthiness (CRW ), and €50 for failure to produce the CRW within 10 days.
