Jury fails to reach car death verdict

A JURY has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a 25-year-old Dublin mother charged with murdering a father-of-four by crushing him with her car.

Claire Nolan, of Sheephill Green, Blanchardstown, drove into Michael Duffy and crushed him against his son’s house on January 26, 2008. She told gardaí she meant to knock down the 66-year-old’s son, Francis Duffy.

Nolan pleaded not guilty to murdering the taxi driver in this son’s driveway on Wellview Grove, Blanchardstown, but pleaded guilty to his manslaughter. The prosecution did not accept her plea and she went on trial at the Central Criminal Court last week.

It was the second time Nolan faced trial on this charge and it was the second jury that failed to reach a verdict in the case, one of the first homicides in which a car was used as a weapon.

The court heard that Mr Duffy’s spine was broken in two and he died of crush injuries to his chest associated with severe, non-survivable internal injuries.

The jury of seven men and five women had deliberated for almost five hours when they returned to say they could not reach agreement.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy discharged them and remanded Nolan on continuing bail until December 19. The state must decide whether to accept her manslaughter plea or try her a third time.