Disturbing dashcam footage of a road accident on the N80 south of Bunclody was shown to the Circuit Court in a case alleging careless driving causing serious bodily harm.
ut the images watched by the jury were too traumatic to see for the woman whose Ford Fiesta was crushed by a 33-seater bus in the three vehicle accident.
The case of DPP versus Lynette Faning (75) from Ellistown in County Kildare produced no verdict from the jury of seven women and five men.
They were deadlocked and unable to agree at the end of a trial which stretched over four days.
Among those present for much of the hearing was Emma Shannon from Taghmon who was heading northbound in the Fiesta on the morning of March 29 in 2018.
However, she made sure to step out of the courtroom as video of the accident was played and re-played time after time.
The footage showed the Mercedes bus driven by Tullow man James Sweeney proceeding south, bringing a group of children from Carlow Regional Youth Service to Kia Ora mini-farm.
Shortly after passing Bunclody cemetery, on a straight stretch of road, the bus collided with the brand new Kia Sportage driven by the defendant.
As a result, Sweeney was unable to control his vehicle as it careered into the northbound lane.
There it hit Ms Shannon’s car, sweeping it on to the roadside verge before wedging it against a concrete, post-and-rail fence.
Such was the force of the impact that two sections of post-and-rail were demolished.
No serious injuries were reported among those on the bus, although the driver suffered shoulder strain as a result of his vain efforts to steer his stricken coach.
Ms Faning was left with a shattered collar bone and rib fractures as well as a bump on the head.
Worst affected was Ms Shannon who was driving on the day in question to Galway where she attended university.
She was airlifted from the scene in the townland of Ryland Upper to hospital in Tallaght for treatment.
Called into the witness box she confirmed that she had no memory of the accident which occurred when she was 20 years of age.
She told how she remained in hospital for months after the accident for treatment of severe brain injury associated with a fractured skull.
She also suffered a collapsed lung and leg fractures but the court learned that she had since made a good recovery and recently finished her college studies.
Exactly what brought the bus and the Sportage together on a miserably wet morning was a matter for dispute between prosecution and defence.
Garda Tom Bolger, who examined and photographed the scene, concluded that the bus and car came together in a ‘side swipe’ style of collision.
After examining the debris on the road he was unable to say with any precision exactly where the point of impact was.
The dashcam evidence was provided by motorist Damon Murphy who was travelling south in his car that day.
He was heading for Wexford Town, where he had work at the time, with one other vehicle between him and the bus.
The jury heard from James Sweeney who insisted that the footage did not show his bus crossing the white line in mid-road.
A series of his passengers, staff with the youth service, were called to say that they recalled nothing unusual in his driving up to the moment of the collision.
Testimony was also provided by Lynette Faning who said she had no memory of her ill-fated journey after passing the meat factory in Clohamon.
She was on her way home to Kildare at the time after an overnight visit to her daughter resident in Blackwater.
A native of South Africa, in Ireland from the age of 21, she had a record of more than 50 years accident free driving.
Considerable court time was devoted to a call made from her Samsung mobile phone to Faning’s niece Niamh Kinsella at the time of the accident.
The phone was seized by investigating Garda Lorraine O’Keeffe who found it on the dashboard of the wrecked Kia with its battery disconnected.
Cybercrime bureau Garda Paul Parle, who examined the contents of the handset, noted that the outgoing call was made to Ms Kinsella’s number at 10.51.31 hours.
The 999 service recorded the first of four calls reporting the accident at Ryland Upper 17 seconds later.
The mystery call was of ‘zero’ duration, suggesting that no contact was effected.
Ms Kavanagh came to court to state that she was in the kitchen of her parents’ house that morning.
She noted a missed call, though she had not heard her phone ring, and she told the court that her aunt had no reason to ring her.
Giving evidence in her own defence, the accused motorist said she did not know how to use Bluetooth to make calls while driving.
She added that she never made calls from the car without first pulling in off the road.
It was suggested by the defence that the aborted call to Ms Kavanagh might have been triggered in some way by the impact of the collision.
Forensic engineer Stephen Farnan reckoned that there are ways that a call button may be pressed accidentally.
‘We don’t know what caused this accident,’ concluded defending barrister Aidan Doyle and only some members of the jury were convinced that his client was to blame.
More than four hours after they began their deliberations, their foreman confirmed that they were unable to reach a verdict/
They were then discharged once Judge James McCourt had thanked them for their efforts.
Ms Faning was formally remanded on continuing bail pending consideration of the matter by the DPP and the case was adjourned for mention in October.
