A CO Louth test centre has been acquitted on charges arising from the investigation into the fatal bus crash in which five Meath schoolgirls were killed on May 24th, 2005, after a claim that the wrong date had been entered on the charge sheet. The judge has discharged the jury.
Judge Patrick McCartan withdrew the case of McArdles Test Centre Ltd of Dundalk from the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court following an application by defence counsel, Roderick O'Hanlon SC, and directed that verdicts of not guilty be recorded on the two charges faced by the company.
He told the jury that the evidence of Wesley Finlay, a Department of Environment (DoE) tester with McArdles, had "very much put a spanner in the works and in my mind, undermined the prosecution's case". He said it was obvious from Mr Finlay's evidence that the date on the charge should have been March 4th, 2005, the day he carried out the original DoE test, and not March 15th, 2005, when his only responsibility was to recheck for those items that had failed the original inspection.
Judge McCartan reminded the jury that Tony Wynn, a senior vehicle tester with the Department of Transport, had said that a test centre's only responsibility on the retest date was to check those failed items.
He said that the accused was entitled to the benefit of the doubt in any criminal trial and although the prosecution did throw up many doubts, it was his belief that Mr Finlay's testimony showed up "inherent contradictions in the prosecution case".
Judge McCartan thanked the five men and seven women of the jury "deeply" for their involvement in justice being done and excused them from further service for 10 years.
Joe McArdle, a director, had pleaded not guilty on behalf of McArdles to two charges of failing to note that the anti-lock braking system (ABS) warning light on the bus wasn't operational while conducting a vehicle test on March 15th, 2005, two months before the tragedy.
A second company, Keltank Ltd of Balbriggan, pleaded guilty on day four of the trial, and its case is due for mention today when it is expected that a sentence date will be set for it.
Keltank pleaded guilty through Sonya Kelly, company secretary, that being aware that ABS sensor leads were disconnected, it failed to ascertain whether a hazard arose as a consequence thereof before returning the bus to the driver, John Hubble, on May 5th, 2005.
The case of Bus Éireann, which has pleaded guilty to charges arising from the investigation into the crash, is due for mention next Tuesday at Trim Circuit Criminal Court. Mr O'Hanlon had asked for the case against McArdles to be withdrawn on the basis that March 15th, 2005, as per the charges before the court, was not the relevant date because it was on this date that Mr Finlay had simply retested previous fail items.
Counsel argued that Mr Finlay was correct and not in breach of any guidelines by doing so, and that if the State wished to prove that he had failed to notice that the ABS warning light was not operational on the vehicle, the correct date on the charge should have been March 4th, 2005.
Mr O'Hanlon also argued that McArdles was not responsible for the vehicle once it was out of its control or off the premises in Dundalk and thus when the vehicle crashed on May 23rd, 2005, eight days after it was last at the test centre, McArdles was not at fault.
Judge McCartan acceded to Mr O'Hanlon's application to withdraw the charges and said that Mr Finlay's testimony "that the ABS warning light had to be working on the vehicle on March 4th, 2005 because otherwise I would have failed the bus for road worthiness", threw "considerable doubt" on the prosecution's case.