Man who suffered injuries in collision with horses awarded €330,000

A man who suffered serious head injuries after the van he was driving collided into a herd of horses who had wandered onto the road has been awarded more than €330,000 in damages at the High Court.

John O'Brien (aged 58) suffered life-threatening injuries, and was transferred from hospital in Ballinasloe to Dublin's Beaumont hospital due to the multiple fractures to his skull and other bones as well as an injury to his brain as a result of the collision which occurred on the N6 road, some 7km from Athlone, around 8pm on October 21, 1998.