Expert witness questions evidence in bus driver trial

An expert witness for the defence in the trail of a Dublin Bus driver accused of dangerous driving causing death at Wellington Quay three years ago has questioned new technical evidence presented to the jury.

All evidence has now been heard in the trial of Kenneth Henvey (aged 51), of Whitethorn Crescent, Palmerstown, who has denied dangerous driving causing the deaths of two men and three women on 21 February 2004.

Dr Dennis Woods, an engineer and accident investigator, told the jury on day nine of the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial that there were a number of "anomalies" in new data which raised doubts in relation to its accuracy.

The jury had earlier been given inaccurate technical information provided by a Volvo engineer in Sweden who realised his mistake during the trial and produced a new table of figures.

Dr Woods said there were discrepancies between the hours of engine operation and mileage shown in the table and the figures recorded by gardai in the days following the incident.

Dr Woods said his interpretation of the new table of figures showed that the maximum engine speed was exceeded for a total of 58 minutes and 31 seconds.

Dr Woods told Patrick Gageby SC (with David Burke BL), defending, that Mr Henvey's engine could have experienced up to 60 seconds of "abnormal operation" without it being recorded in the data.

He told the jury that a power surge could occur for two to three seconds and that "hypothetically" there could have been up to 20 power surges for up to three seconds without showing up on Volvo's data.

"The data gives no assistance in determining whether or not there was a power surge", he said.

Dr Woods said the anomalies and inconsistencies called the accuracy of the data into serious question and added that many intermittent faults cannot be detected by on board diagnostic systems such as the one from which this data was taken.

Under cross examination Dr Woods agreed with Thomas O'Connell SC (with Patrick McGrath BL), prosecuting, that he had not carry out any tests on Mr Henvey's bus. Dr Woods said the vehicle had not been stored correctly and was incapable of being started when he looked at it.

He agreed with Mr O'Connell that there was no evidence that Mr Henvey's bus had experienced a power surge but added that there was also no evidence that a power surge had not occurred.

Dr Woods denied Mr O'Connell's suggestion that if there had been a power surge and Mr Henvey's foot was on the accelerator rather than the brake then everything that happened would be explained.

He further denied that he did not understand or was misreading the Volvo data.

Mr Marcus Fasth, the Swedish Volvo engineer who earlier supplied the inaccurate data, said that a power surge could not occur without a record being left in the electronic data stored on board the bus.

He told Mr Gageby that he stood over the new data entirely and when asked "what if the total engine time recorded on the table didn't add up" he replied, "well, I don't know".

Judge Michael White told the jury of four women and eight men that all evidence had now been heard and they would hear closing speeches in the case on Monday morning.