‘Sorry’ said after fatal crash, court hears
Niall Shannon, aged 20, of Lenamore, Ballylongfod, has denied dangerous driving when under the influence of alcohol, causing the deaths of Garda Brian Kelleher, aged 46 and Foynes firefighter, Mike Liston, aged 47.
On the third day of the trial, firefighter, Neil Daly, recalled taking up traffic control duty on the Askeaton side of a road traffic accident at Barrigone on February 25, 2007.
A car was overturned on the road halfway between Foynes and Askeaton and the person in the car was not injured.
Mr Daly said after taking up position with a glow beacon in his hand he had difficulty with his radio.
He walked towards the fire tender where colleague Sabrina McCarthy had gone to get a replacement radio.
As he was doing so he saw headlights from the Foynes side and this was followed by a crash and thud sound.
He added: “I could see debris and a large object thrown into the air. It looked like a body. I don’t remember it landing. I remember it momentarily in the air. When I saw it on the ground I knew something drastic had gone wrong.”
He said he then discovered Garda Brian Kelleher lying on his back with his jacket covering his face.
“At the time I noticed he had very bad injuries to one particular foot. I pulled down the jacket off his face and that was when I knew it was Garda Brian Kelleher. An ambulance man was with me at the time and there was no sign of life. Further down the road I heard screams and could see (firefighter) Eddie Murphy lying on the side of the road in towards the ditch and another firefighter beside him. I could hear one colleague screaming and then Eddie saying ‘Mike is dead, Mike is dead’. I knew at this stage it was Mike Liston. I went on my knees to check Mike for any sign of life and I couldn’t see any.”
After Mr Liston’s body was lifted off a wall where he ended, following the impact, Mr Daly said: “I could remember an individual getting out of the passenger side of the Audi and saying ‘sorry about that lads’ or something like that.”
He resumed traffic control duty then on the Foynes side of the scene after Garda Ollie O’Sullivan warned if we did not go back to manage the traffic it could happen again.
Earlier, under cross examination by Anthony Sammon, SC for the defence, firefighter Ian Behan, who was doing traffic control on the Foynes side after the initial accident, said he was unable to get in contact with Neil Daly who was on the Askeaton side, due to difficulty with the radio.
He did not think he took up a position too close to the first accident scene.
Mr Behan said at the time a car drove past him crashing into the road traffic accident he was in an appropriate position to stop any oncoming car.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
