Bus rampage case adjourned
A bus driver accused of causing the death of a former teacher is receiving psychiatric treatment.
Peter Clarke is currently a patient at the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin, a court heard.
Clarke was due to appear at Clover Hill District Court this morning as hundreds paid their final respects to educationalist Marie Buckley.
The 61-year-old died on Sunday after pushing her only daughter, Angela, out of the way of an oncoming vehicle.
Clarke, 36, of Kiltalawn Court in Jobstown, Tallaght, has been charged with dangerous driving causing death.
Judge Thomas Fitzpatrick heard Clarke was unable to attend the courthouse for two weeks.
A sick warrant was issued and the case adjourned until May 25.
Mrs Buckley, from Donnycarney, was due to be buried today following a funeral service at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Sean McDermott Street, Dublin.
A native of Newcastle West, Co Limerick, she spent most of her teaching life based at a nearby Rutland Street school.
Tributes were this week paid to the former teacher, who even in her retirement dedicated her life to helping young people and their families in disadvantaged areas of the inner city.
Her heartbroken family remember her as a “fun-loving and vibrant woman who loved life”.
Clarke was arrested by gardaí on Sunday evening in connection with a series of vehicle-rammings on the Naas Road in Dublin.
More than a dozen people were injured in the incident, including a number of gardaí, as a coach was driven at speed on the Naas Road dual carriageway and in the LUAS tramway.
It is alleged the bus had been taken from Dualway Coaches, where Clarke was an employee, from its depot in Rathcoole in south Co Dublin on Sunday morning.
