A professional motor assessor has told the £151,000 fraud conspiracy trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that a Rover car he examined was never involved in a traffic accident.
Mr Barry McCarthy said he and Garda Aidan Loughnane, the public service vehicle inspector (PSV) in Wexford, jointly examined a green Rover 620 there on April 8th, 1997, and found it to be in "excellent condition" with no signs of damage.
Mr McCarthy, who was a serving Garda sergeant and PSV inspector for 25 years in Waterford and Kilkenny at the time, said both front and rear windscreens were the originals, with the vehicle identification number (VIN) sandblasted into them.
Both Mr McCarthy and Garda Loughnane said that a Rover car with the same registration plate number, 96W506, which they were shown in photographs, was certainly not the same vehicle. A document listing substantial impact damage to this car could not refer to the vehicle they examined.
Earlier, Mr Martin Harte, an assessor for Guardian PMPA (now Axa) told the jury he had been shown a Rover car at Michael Byrne Motors in Longford which he described as "a write-off".
Mr Harte told Mr George Birmingham SC, prosecuting, he took photographs of this vehicle and listed all the damage he found on it.
He assessed it as having a £19,000 pre-accident value but only £1,250 salvage value at this time.
Mr Paul Regan, a staff engineer with the Automobile Association, also examined the Rover car, 96W506, in Wexford on May 26th, 1997, and found its bodywork free of any damage.
Mr Regan said an electronic paint thickness gauge further indicated this Rover was not involved in any major impact and the Rover in the photographs taken by Mr Harte in the Longford garage could not be the same vehicle.
The jury heard the evidence in the continuing trial of retired garda Mr Desmond McGonigle (58), of Knockvicar, Boyle, Co Roscommon, and Mr James Murphy (44), a lorry driver, of Main Street, Castlebellingham, Co Louth.
They deny involvement in a conspiracy to defraud the Guardian/PMPA by falsely pretending a traffic accident occurred at Annaduff, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, on January 28th, 1996.
The prosecution has described it as "a dramatic accident that never happened" between a Rover car and a Scania truck which towed a lowloader carrying a Scania tractor unit and a Hyster forklift.
The jury has been told the accused are alleged to have conspired together and with others including businessman Mr Michael Byrne of Sligo Road, Longford; Mr Michael McDonald, Riverstown, Dundalk, a director of Portfleet Ltd, owners of the Scania transporter, driven by Mr Murphy; and Mr Jeremiah O'Donovan, of Fairview Terrace, Birr, who was the Rover driver.
The hearing continues before Judge Joseph Matthews and a jury of four women and seven men.