€5m settlement approved for victim in drink-driving case

The High Court has approved a settlement of €5m to a 28-year-old woman who sustained serious injuries after the car in which she was a back-seat passenger was struck by an uninsured drunk driver who broke a red light.

Today the court heard that Yvonnie Mutuhle, a native of Zimbabwe, will require constant care for the rest of her life as she no longer has the capacity to look after herself as a result of the injuries she sustained in an accident that occurred six years ago.

Ms Mutuhle, with an address at the Old School House, Eblana Avenue, Dun Laoghaire sued through her father Godfrey Zireva, who resides in the UK.

She settled her action for damages arising out of the alleged negligence of the driver of the other car, Faye Sherlock, Swanbrook, Kilruddery, Bray, Co Wicklow and the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland.

The proceedings arouse out of an accident that occurred on the early hours of August 31, 2002 on the junction between Carysfort Avenue and Frascati Avenue in Blackrock Co Dublin when it was claimed that the car Ms Mutuhule was in, was in collision with a car driven by Faye Sherlock.

In 2004, Faye Sherlock (aged 28) was jailed for 18 months and put off the road for 10 years at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after she pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing harm to Ms Mutuhle and to drink-driving.

At the High Court, Mr Padraig McCartan SC for Ms Mutuhle told the court that following the impact, his client was thrown out of the rear window of the car and ended up approximately 25 feet away on the opposite of the dual carriageway.

She suffered life-threatening injuries to her brain, spine and internal organs and was rushed to St Vincent's hospital where she was placed on a life-support machine.

Later, due to the nature of her head trauma, she was moved to Beaumont Hospital.

She underwent lengthy rehabilitation treatment in various hospitals. Her injuries are such that she will have problems for the rest of her life, and requires the help of carers.

Counsel said that Ms Mutuhle, while she lacks the capacity to live life on her own since her transfer to a specialised facility in the UK in 2004, had made good progress, and was able to do certain things for herself.

She had come to Ireland in February 2002 as a result of the political problems in her home country, and had been granted asylum status shortly after the accident. She had planned to start an accountancy course in September 2002.

Mr Justice Vivian Lavan said that he had no hesitation in approving the settlement of €5m. The judge accepted that the full value of Ms Muthule's claim would have been in excess of €7m, but it was agreed that because Ms Mutuhle was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident she had partly contributed to her injuries and that the full amount should be reduced by one third.

The judge also expressed his sympathies to Ms Mutuhle and her family over what was a "terrible tragedy".

Following today's ruling, a spokesperson for the family paid tribute to garda sergeants John Burke and his colleagues at Blackrock garda station and to accident investigator Sergeant Colm Finn for all the help they had given Ms Mutuhle and her family.