Cyclist’s death: ‘I just could not believe it... it was horrendous’

The widow of a 42-year-old hit-and-run accident victim has told how she heard the news of his death after his body had been found a short distance from their home.

As a search was taking place, Margaret O’Leary was at home with her brother-in-law when he received a phone call that the body had been discovered in a roadside ditch, less than 2km away.

She was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of Shane Fitzgerald, aged 22, of Upper Knockeen, Knockduff, Meelin, Newmarket, Co Cork, who has pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Paud O’Leary, at Scrahanfadda, Gneeveguilla, Co Kerry, on July 1, 2012.