Garda was driving car that killed two men

TWO young men killed near Limerick city, after they were struck by a car driven by an off-duty garda, are believed to have been fighting on the road when the tragedy occurred.

Gavin O’Callaghan, 20, from Courtown Drive in Knocknaheeny, Cork city, and an unnamed second man are understood to have been grappling with each other on the overtaking lane of the N20 near Dooradoyle when they were hit by the vehicle at 11.55pm on Wednesday.

Both men died instantly when they were struck by the private car which was carrying two off-duty gardaí who were travelling from Henry Street Garda Station.

The vehicle in which the two deceased and a young woman had been travelling sped off in the immediate aftermath of the incident and has yet to be located.

Mr O’Callaghan, who had four brothers, was known to officers, had a number of drug and theft-related convictions and had developed a heroin addiction in recent years.

In the first half of 2009 he was twice fined €150 for possession of cannabis, and had two further charges of theft brought against him in October and December of that year.

On February 9, last year, Mr O’Callaghan was jailed for four months on five counts of theft.

However, instead of being in prison he was found on March 29, 2010, on Patrick Street in Cork city with what was described in court as a “shatter hammer” concealed in the waist of his pants.

During the court hearing, which resulted in a six- month jail sentence, he admitted to using the item to break into parked cars in the vicinity.

It is unclear why exactly the Knocknaheeny man travelled to the outskirts of Limerick city on Wednesday night with the second man and a young woman.

It is understood Mr O’Callaghan, whose father Austin is general manager of the Groves pub in Blackpool, Cork city, had been seeing a girl from Limerick in recent weeks.

As a garda was involved, the incident is being investigated by road traffic experts from the Garda Ombudsman’s Office.

A spokesman for the Ombudsman said they had been in contact with State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy to have post-mortems carried out on the two young men at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

The private car driven by the garda which struck the two deceased was taken away for forensic examination.