Judge given 'inaccurate data' in bus driver trial

A jury has heard 'seriously inaccurate' evidence in the trial of the bus driver accused of dangerous driving causing the deaths of five people in Dublin city centre.

A Swedish Volvo engineer mistakenly sent inaccurate data supposedly taken from the bus involved in the incident to gardai which was then used in evidence during the trial of the driver.

Judge Michael White told the jury on day eight of the trial that the court learned today that technical detail put before it in the course of the prosecutions evidence against Kenneth Henvey was wrong.

Judge White said that Marcus Fasth of Volvo in Sweden had been evaluating data taken from a more powerful South African bus' 12 litre engine at the same time as he was working on data from Mr Henvey's seven litre engine bus and the figures 'became mixed up'.

Judge White said the figures were 'seriously inaccurate' and he accepted that a genuine error had been made by Mr Fasth. He said this was a 'serious matter', withdrew the inaccurate exhibit and gave the prosecution permission to reopen their case.

Mr Henvey, 51, of Whitethorn Crescent, Palmerstown, has denied dangerous driving causing the deaths of two men and three women at Wellington Quay on February 21 2004.

The prosecution had closed its case on Tuesday and Thomas O'Connell SC (with Patrick McGrath BL), prosecuting, were allowed a day to consider highly technical evidence given by a defence expert.

That expert, Dr Dennis Woods had unknowingly used the inaccurate data as provided by the prosecution to give evidence that Mr Henvey's engine had experienced excess power for over 40% of its working hours.

The jury heard that the prosecution's legal team met at the Chief Prosecution Solicitors office on Wednesday during a day's break from the hearing. Mr Fasth was contacted by telephone and said he had sent the wrong document.

Mr Fasth travelled to Dublin and appeared in court today. He told the jury he had never previously carried out two evaluations of bus engine data simultaneously and "unfortunately some numbers got mixed up". He said he was "very, very sorry".

Garda Adrian Tucker earlier gave evidence in relation to the inaccurate data and retook the witness stand to explain that Mr Fasth had first travelled to Dublin in December 2006 and downloaded electronic information from Mr Henvey's bus' on to a laptop.

Gda Tucker said that material was made available through John Thorpe of Irish Commercials, the Irish importer of Volvo, and it was handed over to Mr Henvey's defence team.

Gda Tucker earlier gave evidence on day five of the trial and agreed under cross examination that most of the data received from Mr Fasth was incomprehensible to him.

Gda Tucker today said he received the data only days before the trial began and noticed that the number of engine operating hours and mileage quoted did not seem to tally with what he recalled from Mr Henvey's bus.

He contacted Mr Thorpe and was told that the data appeared to be correct and that there would be "inconsistencies" in the figures due to its "statistical" nature.

Asked by Mr Gageby if altering the defence to his doubts had been considered, Gda Tucker replied: "it's not that I had doubts, I was confused by the figures".

Mr Thorpe told the jury that he had briefly looked at the data emailed to him by Mr Fasth and had noticed a discrepancy in relation to the engine running hours. He said he rang Mr Fasth to check if he had the correct document.

Mr Fasth told him he was out in the field and unable to reach his computer but was sure that the document was the right one.

The tabulated data was introduced by the prosecution and detailed evidence was given by both sides in relation to it before yesterday's revelations.

Mr O'Connell presented a new table of data downloaded from Mr Henvey's bus which Mr Fasth provided after he realised his mistake.

Mr Fasth said the data showed how the bus engine had behaved over the course of its lifetime. Asked by Mr O'Connell if there was any indication that it had behaved abnormally at any time, he replied: "no, not at all".

Mr Fasth said that if anything abnormal occurred it would register as a "fault code" or shut down the engine. He said: "we are very tough on these types of functions" to which Mr Gageby said: "I object to the promotional speech".

Under cross examination Mr Fasth denied Mr Gageby's suggestion that he did not believe in power surges, saying: "of course they exist but we monitor them and then we shut them down".

Mr Gageby said it had been a "big mistake" to trust the data "last time" and said "we have to trust this data is alright".

Mr O'Connell had been given permission to delay his cross examination of two Bus Éireann drivers who earlier gave evidence of experiencing power surges on a Waterford bus in 2004 and 2005.

Martin O'Callaghan agreed with Mr O'Connell that the bus had not moved during the power surge and said: "it didn't move because I had the hand brake on".

Mark Fitzgerald also agreed that the bus had not moved but told Mr Gageby that he never drove it again, "oh no".

Mr Thorpe told Mr Gageby that four complaints had been received in relation to the Waterford coach. He said he examined the vehicle three times and found no fault with it.

The hearing continues before Judge White and a jury of four women and eight men.