Accused driver denies connection with false claim

A lorry driver accused of conspiracy in the Ir£151,000 alleged insurance trial has told the jury in evidence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he had nothing to do with the claims made.

Mr James Murphy of Main Street, Castlebellingham, Co Louth said he suffered injuries when a Rover car skidded into the path of a Scania transporter driven by him near Carrick-on-Shannon.

He couldn’t drive the Scania away because it had been damaged in the front and the lights had been broken. The front was slightly over the embankment of a ditch and the car was down it.

Mr Murphy told his counsel, Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC, on day-11 of the trial he was allowed leave the scene by the garda on duty, his co-accused, Mr Desmond McGonigle, now retired, and got a lift to Longford Hospital from where he was sent by ambulance to Mullingar Hospital.

He told Ms Ring (with Ms Caroline Cummings BL) that photographs produced in court during the previous 10 days of the trial didn’t show the correct location of the alleged accident.

Mr Murphy (aged 44) and Mr McGonigle (aged 58), of Knockvicar, Boyle, Co Roscommon, 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.

The jury has been told they are alleged to have conspired together and with others including businessman Mr Michael Byrne of Sligo Road, Longford; Mr Michael McDonald, Rathcor, 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.

Mr Murphy told Ms Ring he had long experience of driving to Africa, Russia, Turkey and various Asian countries and was licenced for these journeys.

He grew up with Mr McDonald and had been at school with him. He agreed at his request to become transport manager for Portfleet and to be a director of the company. He signed forms in relation to this at the office of Mullingar accountant, Mr Patrick Murphy, who gave evidence.

Mr Murphy said Mr Byrne was never mentioned at any time and he had never heard of him until recently. He wasn’t aware he had anything to do with setting up Portfleet or that he was also involved with the Rover car.

Mr Murphy said when he came home from mass on Sunday, January 28, 1996 he got a call from Mr McDonald to pick up a trailer on a hard-shoulder near Carrick-on-Shannon. He drove there from his home and found the trailer which he was to take to Mr McDonald’s yard at Rathcor.

He was driving a white-coloured Scania tractor unit, registration number 95 D 33639. The lowloader trailer had another Scania unit and a Hyster forklift on it.

Mr Murphy said that while driving towards Longford at about 6.30pm he slowed down to about 20 mph at road works when the met the Rover car which "swerved all over the road". He didn’t know if the driver was drunk or not and was blinded by the Rover’s lights.

He said he "stood" on his brakes but the car collided with him and went down the embankment. He got out of his cab and checked the car driver was all right. Some passerby called the gardaí.

Mr Murphy said Mr McDonald told him by phone to leave the Scania where it was and he would arrange to have it moved. Mr McDonald picked him from Mullingar Hospital where he was given a neck collar after x-rays.

He attended his own general practitioner, Dr C G Fingleton of Blackrock, Dundalk, the next day and regularly after that because he couldn’t work due to his aches and pains.

Mr Murphy said he severed all connections with Portfleet and "had no contact whatever with Mr McDonald" following the accident. He bought his own truck with a bank loan and became a sole trading hauler, spending long periods abroad including work for the USA forces in Europe.

Mr Murphy told Ms Ring that in mid-1997 at Southampton he met Mr McDonald’s brother-in-law, Mr Eamonn Woods of Forkhill, Newry who was driving for Portfleet and who told him he was using witness’s "authorisation" as an international lorry driver.

This annoyed him greatly and he wrote a letter to make sure his name was removed as a Portfleet director. He said he bought some land after settling his personal injuries claim.

Mr Murphy said the truck he was towing was in perfect order when he left the accident scene and he had never seen some of the vehicles shown in photographs presented in evidence, especially one purporting to be 95 D 33639. He never saw the name "Portfleet" on a Portfleet truck before.

Mr Murphy denied the suggestion by prosecuting counsel, Mr George Birmingham SC, in cross-examination that he was never involved in the accident as he claimed in his evidence.

He agreed with Mr Birmingham (with Mr Sean Guerin BL), he met Mr McDonald in 2000 to sign documents concerning Portfleet but he hadn’t realised it was important to tell that in his own direct evidence. He agreed he got a letter in 1998 from the Revenue about his income from Portfleet.

Mr Murphy said he told Dr Fingleton the Scania 95 D 33639 was "a write-off" because he was told that by Mr McDonald who said the chassis was damaged. That would make it a "write-off" but Mr Murphy said he knew nothing about deliberate interference with the chassis.

Mr Murphy was pressed by Mr Birmingham about what counsel called contradictions in his evidence and the "coincidences" of Mr Byrne being involved in having Portfleet incorporated, with the Rover car 95 W 506 which experts had confirmed was never in an accident, and "doctors and insurance people getting it all wrong" on his evidence.

When Mr Murphy, in further reply to Mr Birmingham said: "When I left the scene that was the number on the car in the dyke", Judge Joseph Matthews told him that "within five minutes" he had said two different things about it: he first said he had no details of the number and then said he had noticed the number on the car at the scene.

Mr Murphy said he left all the details with his co-accused at the scene. As far as he was concerned the car 95 W 506 was involved in the collision and he couldn’t explain what happened to it afterwards.

Later, Mr Murphy agreed that formal details of the phone calls he said he made to Mr McDonald after the accident would have been useful to the trial but he said that as Mr McDonald was now "outside the jurisdiction" he couldn’t get this information and hadn’t looked for it previously.

He disagreed with expert evidence given by Dr Denis Woods that two cranes would have been needed to get the Scania and its load out of the embankment. He couldn’t explain why all the other witnesses in the case got the idea the Scania was down the embankment.

He didn’t claim it had gone done the embankment and he thought Mr McDonald and Mr Byrne had "beefed up the story". Mr Murphy said Dr Woods was not talking about the correct location but he couldn’t tell Mr Birmingham why his counsel hadn’t examined the witness on that point.

Pressed further by Mr Birmingham on the various connections of Mr Byrne to the case, including his purchase of the salvage of another Rover car which went into the Grand Canal, Mr Murphy said that all came as a big surprise to him when he saw it in the Book of Evidence.

"It was a mistake for me to work for Portfleet. I got no money and only promises, promises, afterwards from Mr McDonald who said it was a matter for the insurance company", he said.

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