DPP drops charge after guilty plea

The mother of a young man who was killed in a car crash complained today that victims were forgotten and treated with no importance as she criticised the Director of Public Prosecutions for dropping a dangerous driving causing death charge.

A last minute decision was made by the DPP to accept a plea of guilty to a charge of careless driving after a jury had been sworn to hear the case against Thomas Lyons of Muniflugh, Carriganima, Macroom, County Cork, on a charge of dangerous driving causing the death of Shane Cooney, aged 19.

The late Mr Cooney was a friend of the defendant and was a front seat passenger in his car when it crashed on the Saturday afternoon of October 4, 2003 after overtaking a van and then crossing a hump-back bridge and going out of control.

Lyons, the deceased and a third man in the back were following the stages of a rally and were travelling on the Millstreet to Rathmore road at the time.

Sgt Gerard Carmody said that at the time there were no road signs warning of the bridge, the speed limit was 60 miles per hour and it had now been reduced to 50 kilometres per hour.

Judge Sean O’Donnabhain fined Lyons €1,000 and disqualified him from driving for two years despite submissions that were made on behalf of Lyons not to disqualify him at all.

But the strongest evidence in the case came from Mary Cooney, mother of the deceased.

Mrs Cooney said: “My son is dead, nothing can bring him back. He went out that morning so full of life and happiness. We never again saw him until the night we saw him lying below in the Regional hospital dead.

“I feel very unhappy that he (Lyons) was not charged with dangerous driving causing death. It is my firm belief he has driven that road countless times before. He does not live that far away from where it happened.

“We had four children. Now we have three. We have a bedroom that will never again be slept in, a chair at the table that is never again going to be sat on.

“I just feel that the last person taken into consideration in all these cases is the person who is dead. They are of secondary importance, in fact they are of no importance,” Mrs Cooney said.

She also said that an autopsy had to be done at the hospital on her son whose body was examined for the presence of alcohol, drugs and everything else but she said that Lyons was not checked for alcohol.

During his evidence, Sgt Carmody said there was no suggestion that Lyons had any drink taken.

Defence senior counsel, Denis Vaughan-Buckley said that not alone did Lyons not have drink taken on the occasion but he never drank alcohol in his life.