Family heard of son's death when garda answered victim's phone

A coroner's court has heard how the family of a 21-year-old Dublin man found out he had been involved in a fatal road accident when a garda answered the victim's phone at the scene of the crash.

Brendan Healy from Ballyfermot had bought the car he was driving two weeks before he lost control of it in the early hours of October 3, 2009.

Gardaí found a friend of Brendan Healy wandering along the alymer road in Newcastle in Dublin. He said they had been looking for a party.

Mr Healy's car then came speeding towards them but when he saw the blue lights of the garda patrol car, he did a u-turn, only to crash a short distance later.

The 21-year-old was thrown from the car, suffering traumatic head injuries and later died at Tallaght Hospital.

His family learned of the accident when one of the attending gardaí answered Mr Healy's phone at the crash scene.

A jury at his inquest has found he died by misadventure.