Joyrider died after being hit by garda's torch, inquest told
David Herbert, 18, from Donard Avenue, Navan Road, Dublin, suffered a brain haemorrhage after a garda torch hit the side window in a stolen car he was travelling in, striking him on a vulnerable part of his skull.
Garda John Kearns adamantly denied he threw his torch at the car, which passed him at high speeds at a checkpoint near Kells, Co Meath, at around 2.15am on September 23, 2001.
One independent witness, Orla Smyth, told the Dublin City Coroner’s Court that she saw the garda make a movement that was “probably” consistent with a throwing action.
She disagreed with a suggestion made by counsel for An Garda Síochána, Sybina Purcell, that the torch could have slipped and then hit the window. Ms Smyth said Gda Kearns was about ten feet away from the car.
A juvenile passenger in the stolen car, who arrived handcuffed into court, said he saw the garda throwing the torch at the car from a distance of about ten feet.
Gda Kearns agreed the torch somehow left his hand and struck the left back passenger window, but stressed he “did not make a conscious decision” to let it go.
He said he feared a “horrific accident” when the stolen car, carrying four occupants and travelling at up to 80mph, speeded towards the checkpoint and swerved onto the wrong side of the road.
He said he stood in the middle of the road, behind and slightly to the side of a stationary car, and shone his torch at the stolen car to try and identify the driver.
“I went a bit too close and I got a fright. I swung around to identify them and with the fright the torch left my hand.” He estimated he was only three to four feet from the car.
The court heard that the joyriders abandoned the stolen Toyota Starlet in Kells, hid for a while, then stole another car and drove back to Donard Avenue at 6.30am.
David Herbert senior said that when his wife Una went to check on their son at 9am she couldn’t wake him. He was brought to the Mater Hospital, but died a short time later.
Deputy State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy said Mr Herbert had what is called an “egg shell skull”, which made him particularly vulnerable to a blow.
But she said he was still struck with “fairly considerable force”.
Counsel for the parents, Garreth Baker, said the family did not accept Gda Kearn’s explanation and believed he threw the torch.
The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
