Gardaí refused to carry out road accident forensics

Garda authorities refused to carry out a forensic scene investigation because the victim in a road traffic collision did not die, a court has heard.

The barrister defending a nurse charged with dangerous driving said this was an appalling decision in a case where a motorcyclist had part of his leg amputated.

Barbara O’Toole, a nurse at Stewart’s Hospital in Palmerstown, is alleged to have driven out of an estate onto a main road crashing into Paul Woodley on a motorcycle.

O’Toole, aged 42, of Hansted Dale, Lucan, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing serious harm to Mr Woodley on October 21, 2010, in Clondalkin.

Pieter LeVert BL, defending, told the jury Ms O’Toole has said the bike’s left indicator light was on and she thought the driver was pulling into the left when she pulled out of the estate turning right.

The officer in charge of investigating the collision, Garda Catherine Gunning, said she telephoned her sergeant and requested a forensic examination of the scene but this was refused and she was told it was on the basis that there was no fatality.

The trial continues.