Young motorcyclists killed in separate crashes over weekend

Cormac O’Keeffe and Louise Hogan

A 25-year-old man was killed when he lost control of his motorbike at Kilskyre, Kells, Co Meath, at about 5pm on Sunday. He later died in Navan General Hospital.

A second motorcyclist was killed and another seriously injured when they collided with a car at Main Street, Dunboyne in Co Meath shortly before 8pm on Sunday night. The 21-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A retired garda is suspected of involvement in two separate crashes in Dublin, which left a 70-year-old man dead, his wife with broken legs and two pedestrians with serious injuries.

Two women, aged 17 and 19, sustained head injuries, in a hit-and-run incident on the Blackglen Road, near Sandyford at 12.50am on Saturday. The 17-year-old who sustained severe head injuries was described last night as still in a critical condition while the 19-year-old was in a serious, but stable, condition.

Witnesses described the fleeing vehicle as being a large dark car, possibly a Mercedes. About 1am, two miles from the initial crash, a 71-year-old man was killed in a head-on collision with a black Mercedes on the Enniskerry Road near Stepaside. Pensioner Gordon Geary, from Rathgar, was pronounced dead at St Vincent’s Hospital.

His 70-year-old wife is understood to have sustained two broken legs and other injuries and also received treatment at St Vincent’s.

The man alleged to have been involved, a former garda now a taxi driver, was arrested at the scene and taken to Dún Laoghaire Garda Station to be breathalysed. The man, aged in his 50s, was arrested on suspicion of drink driving but has not yet been charged with any offence.

In a separate incident, a 73-year-old woman from Ranelagh died after she was knocked down by a truck around 10am on Friday

Also, a woman in her late-70s died yesterday after she was struck by a car in Co Tipperary.

The sixth road fatality was a 24-year-old man from Mulligar who died Friday evening after thecar he was driving hit a tree in Co Westmeath.