Coroner confirms crash victim’s death was accidental

MYSTERY still surrounds the cause of a single-car accident which resulted in the death of a 23-year-old woman outside Killarney, early on June 27, 2006.

However, a garda told an inquest yesterday how he saw a deer near the scene of the crash which claimed the life of the driver, Paula O’Shea, of Churchtown, Beaufort, Co Kerry.

Killarney taxi driver Michael Ryan said he was taking a fare to Fossa at 2.45am when he saw a light and what appeared to be a car inside a fence opposite the Sixty Seconds petrol station.

He stopped and saw a car turned on its roof. There was a woman inside the car and he immediately alerted the gardaí and emergency services.

Garda Stephen Hourigan, of Killarney, said they received a call at around 2.45am. He saw a deer going into a ditch about 200 yards from the scene.

He said a woman was trapped inside the car and was pronounced dead about two hours later at Kerry General Hospital, Tralee.

A jury returned a verdict in accordance with the findings of a post-mortem examination carried out by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster. Death was due to multiple injuries consistent with being involved in a traffic accident.

Coroner Helen Lucey described it as a tragic accident, pointing out that the post mortem had shown the late Ms O’Shea had no alcohol or drugs taken.

Another inquest heard how Declan McCarthy, a 26-year-old block layer, died after the car he was driving struck a wall near Ardfert, Co Kerry, just before midnight on April 9, 2006.

Nicholas Cooke, of Kilcooly, Ardfert, said he was going to bed at 11.55pm when he heard a loud bang. When he went out, he saw a car had demolished part of a block wall outside his house.

He saw a man inside the car who “looked as if he was sound asleep”. Other witnesses told the inquest that Mr McCarthy, of Ballinglanna, Causeway, Co Kerry, had earlier consumed six or seven pints of Heineken and a number of vodka splits in pubs in Ballyduff and Causeway.

However, Dr Bolster said it was too late at the time of her post-mortem examination to carry out tests for alcohol or drugs as the deceased had survived in hospital for a number of days after the crash.

She listed severe head injuries and brain swelling among the causes of the man’s death.

Garda public service vehicle inspector Jim O’Brien said the accident occurred on a rural road with a series of sweeping bends. He estimated its speed at 100km/h at the time of impact.

He said 25ft tyre marks at the scene indicated “unchecked high speed”.

The car was extensively damaged.