Coroner in drink-driving plea as inquest hears three men burned beyond recognition in crash
Three men killed in a road crash were burnt beyond recognition after their car went on fire and had to be identified by comparing their DNA with samples from family members, a coroner’s court has heard.
The 22-year-old driver of a Volkswagen Golf, which was on the wrong side of the road when it collided with a Citroen Picasso in which a family was travelling on a Christmas outing, was found to have a high level of alcohol in his system as well as drugs, leading the deputy state pathologist to conclude that his ability to drive would have been “seriously impaired”.
That driver was Eamon Dixon of Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Co Waterford who was killed instantly in the crash as were his passengers Kenneth O’Sullivan (aged 39) of Blackpool, Cork, and Michael Tobin (aged 38) from Abbeyside in Dungarvan and previously of Old Parish. Mr O’Sullivan was the owner of the car.
The fatal crash happened at Kildangan, Military Road, Dungarvan on the morning of December 4, 2016.
Mary Bermingham, who was the front seat passenger in the other car involved in the crash, said their car was travelling towards Kilmeaden, where she and her partner Gary Fenton and her four children who were in the back, were due to visit the Santa train.
Near Dungarvan, she wasn’t taking much notice of the road and Gary was driving, when she heard a scream “Gary,” from the back and saw a small car in front of them. “The car was completely on our side of the road, driving towards us. In a split second it had crashed into us.”
She passed out and, when she came to, “I heard screaming in our car and Gary was unconscious.”
She couldn’t move and saw people outside, who had been around their car, going back to their own vehicles. She shouted: “are you going to leave us to die?”
The fire brigade splashed water on their car. She suffered two broken legs, a fractured arm, fractured ribs and internal bleeding but had made a full recovery, as had her partner and children, she told the coroner.
Garda Robert Falvey gave evidence of arriving at the scene of the crash and seeing the Volkswagen Golf upside down. The heat in that car was getting stronger and he got a fire extinguisher to put out the flames but it had little effect. There was a lot of damage to the front of the other car, the Citroen, and he heard a woman shouting “get my babies”.
The six occupants of the Citroen were eventually taken out of their car and taken to Cork University Hospital.
There were three bodies found inside the Volkswagen once the fire was put out.
Inspector Larry Sheahan said he arrived on the scene shortly after 9.45am and put a major emergency plan into effect. When the fire in the Volkswagen was put out, he could see the vehicle was extensively burnt and he noted “the charred remains of three bodies” in that car. He was responsible for tagging and labelling the bodies. “All of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition.”
The following day, DNA swabs were taken from family members of the three men in the car, and this allowed for identification to be confirmed.
Garda Ruth Finn, a forensic traffic collision investigator, examined the scene and said that, because of undulations along the stretch of road where the crash happened, if both cars were travelling at 100kph they would have had just 2.2 seconds to avoid each other as they only became visible to each other at a distance of 61 metres. She established that the Volkswagen had been travelling faster as it had pushed the Citroen back 16 metres after they collided.
Deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis said all three men suffered multiple traumatic injuries, incompatible with life, and consistent with “a high-speed vehicular impact”.
The driver, Eamon Dixon, had 221mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, the legal limit is 50mg, as well as a traces of cocaine and other drugs. “Such intoxication of alcohol and drugs would seriously impair the ability to drive,” Dr Curtis said.
Mr Dixon’s father, Barry Foley, said he got a call from his son at about 9am on the morning of the crash. “He sounded off his head. He wanted me to go on the beer for the day, and I said no.”
Another witness, Patrick Murray, said he got a phone call at 9.31am on the morning of Sunday, December 4, from Eamon Dixon who said he had “someone with him”.
He went outside and saw a Volkswagen Golf pulling around the corner and Eamon was in the passenger seat with another man driving. He got into the car and realised “both men were drunk”.
They drove out towards the Youghal Road and were on the wrong side of the road.
He said: “I was scared for my safety at this stage,” and they said they were going to Michael Tobin’s house. When he met them again, Eamon Dixon was driving by now and the witness said to Michael Tobin who was now with them, “get out Michael, you f...ing eejit”. They left Michael Tobin’s house at 10.04am.
The inquest heard of a Volkswagen Golf overtaking another car and clipping off its wing mirror, just two minutes before the driver of that car came across the crash.
Pauline Cotter, Kenneth O’Sullivan’s partner, said she had returned to her home from a Christmas party at about 3am on the morning of December 4 and Ken was “restless”. His phone rang at 3.30am and when she woke up at 9am, Ken was gone. Later she saw a news report about a crash near Dungarvan and “got a sense of doom” and gardaí called to her door at about 4pm.
“Ken would never leave anyone else drive his car,” she said.
He was due to graduate from Cork IT with a degree in software development and the couple had been together for 22 years, with a son aged 16. “Our family is lost now, devastated, and things will never be the same again.”
The jury returned verdicts of accidental death in relation to all three victims, with death being the result of multiple traumatic injuries.
Afterwards, the coroner Dr Eoin Maughan said anybody who drinks should never drive.
“There are a lot of people out there who do use drugs and drive and they can be just as dangerous.”
Tributes were paid at the inquest to the efforts of all the first responders, as well as members of the public, at the scene of the crash.
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