‘lmpossible’ alcohol level must be disregarded, jury told

An inquest jury has been told to disregard a high alcohol level detected in a blood sample from a 17-year-old killed in a car crash, which also killed a woman and her unborn daughter, as it was an “impossible” level.

Robert Stoker, from Monkstown in Co Cork, was driving his mother's car when he "veered sharply" into the incorrect lane, crashing into a car coming the other way being driven by Mary Enright (28), from Abbeyside in Dungarvan, Co Waterford.

Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene, about 1km from Bansha in Co Tipperary.

Ms Enright’s unborn daughter Mollie also died.

Ms Enright was 34-weeks pregnant at the time of the crash, which happened at about 10.35pm on the night of March 26th, 2012.

Pathologist Dr Rob Landers, who performed autopsies on all of the victims, said a blood sample taken from Mr Stoker came back from the State laboratory with a reading of 913mg/100ml.

“It would be impossible,” he said, while being questioned at the coroner’s court in Clonmel.

“A person should be dead in or around 400mg.”

He described the reading as “spurious” and said it was the State laboratory’s opinion that there was “something in the sample”.

The coroner, Paul Morris, told the jury in the inquest to disregard the alcohol reading and said he did not want the public to get the impression that alcohol was a factor in the crash.

Ms Enright's husband, Pat Enright, was a front seat passenger in the car at the time of the crash.

The couple were driving teenager Jack Leacy back to his university accommodation in Limerick after he played a match for the Abbeyside minor football team, of which Mr Enright was one of the coaches.

In a statement read to the court, Mr Enright detailed how the couple were looking forward to the birth of their baby.

“Two days before the crash I bought baby clothes,” he said. “We were so excited, our plans were coming together.

“We will never know the colour of Mollie’s eyes or what it’s like to hear her cry. Mollie will forever be wrapped in the blanket we bought her that day.

“No words will ever describe what Mary meant to me. She made everything in my life so great.

“Mary and Mollie were my future.”

Mr Enright described what happened when they were travelling on the road between Cahir and Bansha and he saw a car coming in the opposite direction.

“As the two cars approached each other, suddenly, without warning, the other car veered on to our side of the road.

“Mary didn’t have a chance to brake or swerve to avoid a crash.”

At 3am or 4am the next morning, his mother, father and an uncle came to him in hospital.

“I asked my mother, ‘Is she gone?’ She said ‘yes’. I felt my whole life had been taken away from me.”

‘Out of character’

Mr Stoker’s mother, Marie, had reported her son missing at 10.30pm on the night of the incident and told gardaí ­in Douglas, Co Cork, that Robert had taken her car sometime between 7pm and 8pm, while she was out walking.

He had never driven unaccompanied before.

A missing persons alert was immediately issued to gardaí.

Robert’s actions were completely “out of character”, said Garda Elizabeth Bugler, who told Ms Stoker at 12.30am that her son had been killed in a collision.

Sinead Behan BL, for the Stoker family, said Robert was “a non-drinker” and at no time did he appear to be suicidal.

Supt Padraig Dunne, who led the initial investigation, described the crash as “probably one of the worst I’ve seen”.

The jury returned verdicts in accordance with the medical evidence, which was that both Robert Stoker and Mary Enright died at the scene as a result of multiple traumatic injuries, consistent with being involved in a road crash, while baby Mollie died in hospital from intra-uterine hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen following her mother’s death.

The coroner said he was satisfied the separation of the unborn child from the mother, during an autopsy, can be deemed a birth under the relevant legislation.

Ms Enright’s father David Walsh said he welcomed the fact Mollie Enright is now counted as a separate case and is recorded in the country’s road traffic deaths.