Streetlights out on Sarsfield Road roundabout when nurse was fatally knocked down, inquest hears

Two street lights on one of Cork's busiest roundabouts were out of order on the night Sunita Chacko was knocked down while crossing the road beneath a dark flyover.

Two street lights on one of Cork's busiest roundabouts were out of order on the night a nurse was knocked down while crossing the road beneath a dark flyover.

Sunita Chacko, 27, originally from India but who had been living in Wilton while working as an intensive care nurse in Cork University Hospital (CUH), suffered fatal head injuries when she was struck by a car as she crossed three lanes of traffic on the Sarsfield Road roundabout in Wilton just before 9pm on March 14 last. She died in CUH from her injuries almost a month later.

The collision occurred at the bottom of the slip-road which leads off the N40 South Ring Rd westbound to the roundabout’s junction with Sarsfield Road, on the Togher side of the flyover.

Ms Chacko, known to friends as Sini, did not use the pedestrian crossing at the bottom of the slip-road as she tried to make her way to the Togher side, opting instead to cross several metres west of the pedestrian crossing.

The inquest established that the motorist who drove down the slip-road had a green light, that Ms Chacko was wearing dark clothing with a hood up, and that two street lights - one on the slip-road and the other at its junction with the roundabout - were not working at the time. The only light illuminating the collision scene was a street light on the flyover above.

The inquest was told that the poor lighting, combined with a high-intensity green light for the driver, could have created a dark spot for the motorist immediately before the collision site. Investigating garda, Brendan Murray, said: “It would have made it difficult for the driver to see someone wearing high-viz clothing, let alone someone in dark clothing."

The driver, Seamus McHugh, said he was driving at about 50kph as he came down the slip-road in the middle lane and entered the roundabout with the green light. He said he was aware of a man waiting at the pedestrian crossing to his right, and continued onto the roundabout, where moments later, his car collided with a “figure in dark clothing”. He stopped immediately and went to help her. She was unconscious, her breathing was laboured, and she was bleeding from the nose, ears and back of the head.

Two nurses based at the Bon Secours Hospital arrived at the scene and performed CPR to restore her pulse, and HSE paramedics arrived within four minutes. They treated Ms Chacko at the scene before taking her to the emergency department at nearby CUH, where she remained in a coma and died on April 12.

An aerial view of Sarsfield Road Roundabout

Garda Murray said Mr McHugh passed a breath test and was in shock.

Forensic collision investigator, Garda Dermot Carroll, said the area beneath the flyover is dark in normal conditions, and that a cluster of poles on the right side of the slip-road’s junction with the roundabout could have obscured the driver’s view.

“It’s far easier for a pedestrian to see a motorist’s headlights than for a motorist, in some cases, to see a pedestrian. The car should have been seen by someone standing and waiting at the pedestrian crossing,” he said.

A garda file on the case was later forwarded to the DPP which directed no prosecution. The jury yesterday returned a verdict of accidental death.

Sgt Fergus Twomey said he would ensure that condolences expressed by Cork city coroner, Philip Comyn, would be forwarded to Ms Chacko’s family in India. Mr McHugh also expressed his condolences to her family.