Driver in fatal crash with garda car accepts he was over limit

The jury was told the two cars crashed at the junction of Adamstown Road and Newcastle Road with the N4 on the Lucan by-pass.

One witness claimed in evidence that the garda car broke a red light before the impact and the jury also heared evidence from medical witnesses at the scene that the driver of the fatal car smelt strongly of alcohol.

Mr Paul Green BL, prosecuting, in outlining the case to the jury said the garda car was responding to a call for assistance from gardaí on duty in Leixlip, who were in need of extra handcuffs and help with transporting the individuals who would subsequently be arrested.

Mr Green said the second car, a Toyota Corolla, was heading in the direction of Dublin and was taking a right hand turn onto the Newcastle Road when the accident happened at 10.50pm.

Mr Joseph Molloy, the deceased’s partner, told the court he was the driver of the vehicle but he had no recollection of the event itself or the days preceding it.

He said he could not recall leaving Leixlip with Ms Boggins in the car and had no memory of the accident at all. He received 29 stitches to his head as a result of the incident and is still suffering from memory loss.

Mr Molloy said in reply to Mr Green, he was completely dependant on witnesses to come forward so as to understand what actually happened.

He accepted the submission by Mr Brendan Grehan SC (with Mr Breffni Gordon BL), defending, that he had dropped Ms Boggins at her sister’s house on August 5 at approximately 3 p.m. and had returned at 10pm to collect her, but said he had only come to realise this as people had filled him in on the details.

He also agreed with Mr Grehan that a blood sample taken from him proved he had more than twice the legal limit for alcohol in his system, as he had been told this but he said he had no recollection of drinking that night.

"I cannot comment on that. My mind is just a blank and it is not for the want of trying. All I know is that Mags (the deceased) would not have got into a car with me if I had been drinking."

He accepted Mr Grehan’s further submission that Ms Boggins and his sister had both been in a car he was driving when he was charged with drink driving in 1995 but made no reply when asked by counsel: "Why did she get into the car with you then?".

Garda Marie O’Donovan, the observer in the patrol car on the night of the accident, said it was decided not to activate the blue light or the siren on the patrol car as they had not been informed that the assistance was urgent.

It was also taken into account that although it was a Bank Holiday Monday, traffic was very light.

Gda O’Donovan said that as they neared the Newcastle and Adamstown Roads junction she observed a vehicle taking a right hand turn onto Newcastle Road, cutting across the junction.

She was completely shocked by this as the green light was with traffic heading straight on in the direction of Leixlip and concluded the car she observed took an illegal turn.

A couple of seconds later, a second car cut across them just as the patrol car was going through the junction. Gda O’Gorman braked hard and tried to veer left to avoid making impact with the car but failed and collided with it.

She told Mr Grehan that she observed the green light for traffic heading straight on the N4 turn amber just as the patrol car passed the junction.

A number of civilian witness testified they had been driving on the N4 in the direction of Leixlip and had observed a garda patrol car pass them. All witness stated they were driving within the speed limit of 50 mph and the patrol car had passed them at a faster speed without its blue light or siren activated.

Ms Annette Francis, told the jury she had been travelling as a back seat passenger in her son’s car, westbound on the N4, when her attention was drawn to a garda patrol car behind them as its engine was very loud. It passed them in the outside lane faster than them.

Ms Francis said when it came to the lights at the junction they were amber but it then went on to break the red light.

She rejected Mr Grehan’s suggestion, in cross-examination, that she was mistaken as no other witness had given evidence that the patrol car had gone through a red light.

Counsel noted there was evidence that the amber light would not change to red as quickly as the witness was suggesting it did.

Mr Kevin Reilly, an engineer in the Road and Traffic Department of South Dublin County Council, said the lights at the junction would remain on amber for three seconds and subsequently all the other lights would remain red for a further two seconds before a green light appeared.

Dr Juliet McAleese said she went to the assistance of the Toyota Carolla, parked on a grass median in the centre of the dual carriageway. It had smoke coming out of it and she could see a man and a woman slumped in the car, both leaning in the direction of the passenger set.

Dr McAleese said she went to the woman first, whom she now knew to be Ms Boggins, and concluded she was dead.

She then turned her attention to the man and noted he had a strong pulse but his breathing was very shallow. She opened his airways and he started to breathe and then to cough.

Dr McAleese said she noted there was a strong smell of alcohol from the driver, whom she now knew to be Mr Molloy. She was medically concerned about this because she felt if he had taken a large volume of alcohol he might vomit and she would not be able to protect his airway.

Witness agreed with Mr Grehan, in cross-examination, that she had commented to another witness that she hoped he did not "have a belly full of booze".

Mr Alan Dillon, who was with the medical team that arrived at the scene and stayed in the ambulance conveying Mr Molloy to hospital, confirmed Dr McAleese’s testimony that there was a "pungent smell of alcohol" from his breath.

Ms Sandra Kiely told the jury that she and her boyfriend were stopped at a red light at this junction when she noted a light-coloured car in the filter lane for the turn for the Newcastle Road.

When the light turned green and her boyfriend proceeded through the junction, she saw that car take the right hand turn onto the road and she realised it had broken the red light.

She saw another car quickly follow this and concluded that it must have also broken the red light. She could not see the colour or the make of this other vehicle, only its headlights.

Ms Kiely and her boyfriend heard the impact when they were partly through the junction.They both observed a car heading towards Leixlip which they said was travelling at speed.

The trial continues before Judge Michael White and a jury of six men and six women