Eye witnesses give evidence in bus driver trial
Eye witnesses to an incident in which a bus hit and killed five people in Dublin city centre three years ago have given evidence on day two of the trial of the driver accused of dangerous driving causing death.
Margaret Duffy, the daughter of Margaret Traynor (59) who died as a result of the incident, told the jury she saw her mother unconscious on the ground towards the front of the bus.
Ms Duffy told Mr Thomas O'Connell SC (with Mr Patrick McGrath BL), prosecuting, she had been in town with her mother who had bought a bottle of wine to give to friends she was going to spend the weekend with.
Ms Duffy saw the bus come down on the inside of the bus her mother was waiting to board. "I thought it was coming in to park but it kept on coming".
Ms Duffy went to Saint Vincent's Hospital where she was told her mother had died.
Kenneth Henvey (50) of Whitethorn Crescent, Palmerstown, has pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of two men and three women at Wellington Quay on February 21, 2004.
Dublin Bus Inspector Peter Casey told the jury he was manning radio control at Conyngham Road bus depot when an alarm was activated at 1.17 p.m. He said the voice of a driver said "get me an ambulance quick, after driving over people" and then "it's Ken, help me".
Mr Casey told Mr Patrick Gageby SC (with Mr David Burke BL), defending, that he had experienced a surge of power without him doing anything while driving a bus 20 years ago. He agreed with Mr McGrath that he had driven a different type of bus from Mr Henvey's.
Another Dublin Bus driver, Andrew Monaghan, said he was about to go on duty when he came across the incident. He saw Mr Henvey in the driver seat of the bus and tried to keep him calm and get him off the bus.
Mr Monaghan said Mr Henvey told him the bus had just taken off. "He said he did not know which peddle he was pressing, he was just doing his best to get it to stop".
The man who handed over the bus to Mr Henvey immediately before the incident said he had no difficulties with the bus or the brakes while driving it that day.
Gary Donegan started driving for Dublin Bus five weeks before the incident and told the jury he could not remember whether he had left the automatic bus in "neutral" or "drive" gear.
He said he walked away but turned when he heard a loud bang and screaming. "The crowd had disappeared in front of me". He said the bus drove over people who were stumbling and putting their hands up as if trying to push the bus away. He said it was "mayhem".
Sarah McNamara told the jury she had been in town shopping for her 21st birthday and was waiting for the 66 bus on the Quay with around 25 other people. She said she saw the 66 bus pull up in front of a parked 25A bus which was out of service.
Ms McNarmara said the 66 bus stopped around two metres out from the kerb and the queue moved on to the road to board. She remembered standing at the door of the 66 bus counting her change and sending a text message when she heard a noise, looked to her right and saw a bus coming towards her.
"It all happened so fast. When I looked the bus was so close all I could see was yellow", she said.
She said she lost consciousness and woke up lying on her back in front of the 66 bus and could see the out of service bus stopped beside her. She suffered head and leg injuries.
Karen Jeffers (23) told Mr O'Connell she was fourth in line to board the 66 bus when she heard a woman scream and saw another bus about to "impact" on the 66. She said she literally ran for her life but fell and ended up under the bus.
"The chassis of the bus was stuck into my stomach and my head was pinned to the ground", she said. She remained under the bus for 20 minutes before it was lifted off her. She said she thought the bus had been travelling at 15 to 20 miles per hour as it came towards her.
Brid McCarthy told Mr O'Connell she was waiting to board the 66 bus when she saw the out of service bus move towards the footpath, hit people at the 25A stop and veer back out towards the 66 bus. She said the bus started slowly and then seemed "to go much faster".
She realised the bus was not going to stop and turned to run "my initial thought was that the accelerator was hit rather than the brake but I'm not an expert, I had a feeling someone had hijacked the bus."
Ms McCarthy said she looked at the driver and he seemed to be in control of the bus. She was hit from behind and suffered a broken leg.
The hearing continues before Judge Michael White and a jury of five women and seven men.
