Woman admits careless driving after fatal crash

A woman charged with dangerous driving causing the death of a woman killed in a car crash on her way to a funeral, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of careless driving.

Sinead Timoney, aged 30, of Millcove, Roscarberry, Co Cork, was arraigned on Wednesday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court where she pleaded not guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing the death of Mary O’Leary outside Innishannon, Co Cork, in Sep 2011.

She was re-arraigned yesterday on the lesser charge of careless driving, which Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin was told was an acceptable plea from the point of view of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

She will be sentenced on Tuesday. The family of the deceased will prepare a victim impact statement.

Opening the case Siobhán Lankford, prosecuting, gave an outline of the anticipated evidence.

“This accident happened on Sep 19, 2011, at Curranure, Innishannon. The accused was driving from Cork to Bandon in a Hyundai Sante Fe. Approaching a bad bend in the river and the roadway, her vehicle crossed from its correct side and on to the incorrect side of the road into another car.”

She said it first collided with a Volkswagen Touareg, then collided head-on with a second car, a Nissan Qashqai, driven by David O’Leary.

Mr O’Leary said he and his wife Mary were travelling to Cork Airport from their home in Dunmanway at approximately 6pm that evening for an 8pm flight to England for a funeral.

He said he was not in a hurry and had plenty of time to get to the airport having left home at 5pm.

Mr O’Leary cried in the witness box as he recalled that his wife was the front-seat passenger in the car. He had driven past the well-known chip van on the road from Innishannon when the crash occurred.

He said it was like an explosion, the airbags went off and he was afraid that the car would go on fire, which it did not. The other car was directly in front of his after the collision.

Mr O’Leary said he had not seen that car coming across the road.

He confirmed that his wife was very seriously injured and died as a result of the crash.

Legal submissions were made not to have telephone records relating to the defendant’s phone put to the jury on the basis that they were prejudicial rather than probative.

Alice Faswett, defending, argued that the phone evidence was prejudicial as it did not show a text being sent at the time of the crash.

While Judge Ó Donnabháin said on Wednesday that the evidence could be put to the jury yesterday, this did not happen as the defendant pleaded guilty to the careless driving charge, bringing the trial to an end.