Gardaí to send file to DPP after road death of pensioner

GARDAÍ are to send a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) following the death of an 86-year-old former nurse in a hit and run accident.

The file is being compiled after the driver of the car gave himself up a few hours after Mary Josephine McCarthy was knocked down in Castlemartyr, Co Cork, last Tuesday.

She sustained serious head injuries following the accident which happened at 7.10am, just yards from her front door. Ms McCarthy died at 1.10pm at Cork University Hospital.

Yesterday, gardaí mounted checkpoints in Castlemartyr at around the same time Ms McCarthy was knocked down. They spoke to drivers in the hope of identifying people who may have witnessed the accident.

Meanwhile, they are still appealing for witnesses and are anxious to speak to anybody who may have seen a dark-coloured Ford Fiesta travelling towards Midleton just after the accident.

In particular, gardaí want to hear from anybody who saw a car which had just one of its headlights working.

The man in his 50s who arrived at Midleton Garda Station was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving causing death.

He was questioned by detectives for a number of hours before being released without charge.

A file is now being prepared for the DPP.

Superintendent Flor Horan also renewed appeals for witnesses to a separate accident which happened near Midleton on Monday.

A 40-year-old mother from Killeagh remains in a critical condition in hospital after the car she was driving was involved in a collision with a rigid truck.

The accident happened on the Midleton-Whitegate road at 5.15pm.

Her three children, aged 11, seven and four, were also injured in the crash, although they are in a comfortable condition in hospital.

Anybody with information on any of the accidents is asked to contact Midleton gardaí at 021 462115.