Court hears of 'dramatic accident that never happened'

A consultant engineer has told a jury it would have taken up to seven hours to remove a Scania truck and its load from a ditch into which one allegedly fell after colliding with a Rover car.

Dr Denis Woods, who has published 43 papers for international conferences on many aspects of road traffic accidents, also told the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury that the driver of the car would at least have been seriously injured or possibly killed in a frontal collision at 30 mph.

Dr Woods, giving expert evidence for the prosecution on day-8 of the Ir£151,000 insurance fraud conspiracy trial, said a photograph of the car which was allegedly in the accident showed no frontal crushing which would have resulted from colliding with a Scania.

He said a car driving at 50-60 mph would be "unrecognisable" after such a collision and in his opinion the car in the photograph was not involved in any impact of significance.

Dr Woods said the Scania with its lowloader carrying another Scania tractor unit and a Hyster forklift couldn’t have made its way out of the ditch "in any circumstances" even if only partially in over the top.

Mr Desmond McGonigle (aged 58), of Knockvicar, Boyle, Co Roscommon, and Mr James Murphy (aged 44), a lorry driver, of Main Street, Castlebellingham, Co Louth both deny involvement in a conspiracy to defraud the Guardian / PMPA (now Axa) by falsely pretending a traffic accident occurred at Annaduff, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim on January 28, 1996.

Dr Woods told Mr George Birmingham SC prosecuting, he was asked by the gardaí to investigate aspects of the ‘accident’ in relation to how the Scania and the Rover could have been removed from a ditch and what would occur in a case of frontal collision between them.

He had available to him an accident claim form sent to the insurers by Mr O’Donovan which included a sketch of how the vehicles were placed after the alleged collision. He also collected statistics on the standards weights and measurements of the vehicles before going to the scene.

Dr Woods said the vehicles could be removed from the ditch at Annaduff by pulling them out or by crane. The Scania transporter unit and its three other components would have had to be separated.

Dr Woods said that pulling them out would have required 15 tons gross weight and would have caused them to dig into the soft clay bank. There were few such vehicles suitable for this in the country and in his view wouldn’t be practical.

Two mobile cranes, or one of sufficient capacity of about 45 tons, with a lifting radius of 10 metres would have been needed. The crane would intrude some four metres onto the N4 road at that point and the total operation would take up to seven hours with consequent traffic disruption.

Dr Woods added that in his opinion three units and lowloaders would be needed to remove the Scania transporter, the lowloader, the tractor unit and the forklift which went into the ditch.

Dr Woods told Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC (with Ms Caroline Cummings BL), for Mr Murphy, the requirements for removing the Scania and its load would be the same whether they were upright or on their side in the ditch.

Dr Woods agreed with Mr Peter Finlay SC (with Mr Sean Gillane BL), for Mr McGonigle, he hadn’t seen either vehicle. He understood the general profile of the area hadn’t changed.

He said he had an over-riding duty to the court in giving his evidence than his duty to his client.

The prosecution has described it as "a dramatic accident that never happened" between a Rover car and a Scania truck which towed a lowloader carrying a Scania tractor unit and a Hyster forklift.

The jury has been told the accused are alleged to have conspired together and with others including businessman Mr Michael Byrne of Sligo Road, Longford; Mr Michael McDonald, Riverstown, Dundalk, a director of Portfleet Ltd, owners of the Scania transporter, driven by Mr Murphy; and Mr Jeremiah O’Donovan, of Fairview Terrace, Birr, who was the Rover driver.

The hearing continues before Judge Joseph Matthews and a jury of four women and seven men.