Paudie Palmer accused alleged to have told friends of his involvement in serious incident

Bohdan Bezverkhyi has admitted dangerous driving at another time and place

Bohdan Bezverkhyi (pictured) denies the most serious charge of dangerous driving causing the death of Paudie Palmer. File picture: Dan Linehan

The man who denies dangerous driving causing the death of GAA broadcaster Paudie Palmer in Innishannon at Christmas time in 2022 allegedly told friends on phone calls afterwards that he was involved in a serious incident, that he had consumed alcohol and that he left the scene.

These allegations were made in an outline of the anticipated evidence in the trial but the prosecution lawyer stressed that his outline at the opening of the case was not itself evidence.

33-year-old Bohdan Bezverkhyi, of Rigsdale House, Rigsdale, Ballinhassig, County Cork, denies the most serious charge of dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Palmer at Dunkereen Cross, Innishannon, Co Cork, on December 29, 2022.

He pleaded guilty to five other charges. He admitted dangerous driving at another time and place — December 28, 2022, on the main Cork-Kerry road, the N22. In respect of the incident at Innishannon on December 29, 2022, he pleaded guilty to failing to offer assistance at the scene, failing to remain there, failing to report the incident to An Garda Síochána, and failing to stop.

The trial opened before Judge Colin Daly and a jury of seven men and five women at Cork Circuit Criminal Court with an address from prosecution barrister Brendan Kelly.

Paudie Palme. File picture: Dan Linehan

“As far as I understand the evidence that will be given, will be that early in the morning the accused drove into Crossbarry petrol station. He appeared to have a flat tyre. He stayed there for several hours. He changed his tyre and left between 9am and 10am. He went to Dunkereeen Cross at Innishannon a short distance away.

“Colette Crowley was at home at 9.45am and she heard a revving car followed by a loud bang. (Neighbours went to the scene.) A red Peugeot car driven by Mr Palmer was against the embankment. She and others went to to his assistance. 

"Gardaí attended and (Mr Palmer) was brought to Cork University Hospital. He died on January 8, 2023. Dr Margaret Bolster, pathologist, reported on January 9 that death was due to traumatic spinal cord injuries,” Mr Kelly said.

The prosecution barrister said the silver BMW 5-series approached the junction from a minor road and had a stop line and stop sign against it and that a motorist coming on to the junction from this road would have had an unrestricted 150-metre view of traffic on the main road coming from the direction of travel of the late Mr Palmer.

Mr Kelly said: “The accused was arrested later that day. He did admit he was involved in a crash. He admitted to gardaí to having left the scene — that he effectively panicked.

Mr Kelly added:

His mobile phone was examined. The Ukrainian gentleman — speaking in Russian — admitted to various individuals that he had consumed alcohol at the time and left the scene.

Ms Lorrinda Crowley who works at Centra in the Crossbarry petrol station arrived for work at 7.30am that morning and saw the defendant in his car parked at the side of the premises. He later told her by mimicking a bang that he had got a punctured tyre. 

He had been hoping that a nearby tyre centre would open soon so that he could have it repaired or replaced. Instead he left, using the spare wheel. Seamus Roche senior counsel for the defence said that Mr Bezverkhyi bought petrol and cigarettes, remained there for a few hours and was apologetic to staff.

Garda Jacinta O’Leary was one of the gardaí who arrived at the scene of the crash at Dunkereen Cross and could see that the man driving the red Peugeot that was up on the embankment was very seriously injured. She said an air ambulance was overhead looking for a suitable place to land.

Garda O’Leary said the defendant approached her earlier that morning outside the garage/shop at Crossbarry and said he was Ukrainian. He handed over his driving licence and public service card.

“I enquired about whether he was drinking. He said, ‘No drink. Car broke.’ He did not seem intoxicated in any way to me,” Garda O’Leary said.

Colette Crowley testified that she was sitting in her kitchen that morning: “I heard more than saw a car racing down the road, very high volume noise — engine revving. All of a sudden I heard a bang. I said, there’s another one — because we have had a few crashes at that cross.” 

At the cross she saw a red car with a body hanging out of the rear passenger window on the left side. She knew the late Mr Palmer and said of her experience of his driving: “I just called him a driver like myself — a granny driver. I never saw him speeding. A careful driver like myself.” 

Defence senior counsel Seamus Roche said that when interviewed the defendant was adamant he was not speeding on the occasion and that there would not have been that sort of high revving from his car which is an automatic car.

“He said he was driving appropriately. He had a space saver wheel — a smaller spare — that curtails your driving to some extent, your ability to speed and so on. He said he stopped at the white line. He said he was struck and Mr Palmer veered over to the incorrect side of the road,” Mr Roche SC said.

The defence senior counsel added: “The evidence is that he (the late Mr Palmer) was not wearing a seatbelt which was a lapse of safety. I don’t wish to be critical of the man — it is a very sensitive situation — but there is one indication of a lapse of safety.” 

The trial will resume on Tuesday, February 6, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.