Killer driver 'looked possessed' during Dublin road-rage attack

A motorist looked like he was “possessed” when he killed a British drink-driver in a road-rage attack, a court has heard.

Karl Donohoe beat up construction worker Raymond Bates in Dublin minutes after they argued at a junction in September 2010.

The victim, a father-of-three from Peterlee, Co Durham, died in hospital four days after he was beaten around the head with a hurley in a south Dublin suburb.

Donohoe, 31, previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin where he will be sentenced next Monday.

Mr Bates' widow Brenda wept in court as it emerged her husband had drunk up to 10 pints of Guinness in a pub before getting behind the wheel of his Mitsubishi Pajero and tail-gating and flashing Donohoe, who was travelling with his 18-month-old daughter.

Witnesses said Donohoe stopped in Irishtown, where both drivers got out of their cars and had an argument on the street, with Mr Bates shouting: “Don’t be braking like a f***ing fanny, just drive your f***ing car.”

Shortly afterwards Mr Bates overtook Donohoe’s Toyota Rav 4 and mounted a central island before cutting in on the Dublin man, who later claimed he feared he was going to be rammed off the road.

The court was told Donohoe took a hurley from the boot of his car and hit the Mitsubishi Pajero as it blocked his path, and then hit Mr Bates several times when he got out of the car, including a fatal blow to the left temple as he lay defenceless on the ground.

He died in hospital when his life support machine was turned off on September 30, 2010.