A woman has told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that she thought a building had fallen on top of her when she was knocked over and trapped by a collapsed bus shelter in the city centre three years ago.
Ms Margaret Fee was giving evidence in the sentencing of Dublin City Council who admitted to breaching provisions of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989 arising out of an excavation project.
Ms Fee, who was working with the Revenue Commissioners at the time, said she was trapped under the bus shelter until passers-by lifted it and waited with her until an ambulance and a fire brigade arrived.
She broke both her arms and had significant damage to her kidneys, bowel and liver with injuries also to her pelvis and abdomen.
Mr Eugene O'Reilly, senior engineer, pleaded guilty on behalf of the Council for failing to take measures to ensure the place was safe by failing to put in place "an adequate exclusion zone" around the excavation works at Lower Mount Street on June 9th, 2003.
Inspector Tom Murphy, of the Health and Safety Authority, accepted that Adshel had constructed the shelter in accordance with planning permission from Dublin Corporation in 1985 that specified it should be anchored by its own foundation and so should not be reliant on the footpath for its stability.
Mr Paul Coffey SC, for the council, told Judge Desmond Hogan that this was an unprecedented event which arose out of "a risk that could not easily be foreseeable" and that it didn't happen because of deliberate or conscious action taken by the Council.
Ms Fee said she spent four weeks in intensive care and was not released from hospital until September that year. Due to complications with her injuries she spent two weeks in intensive care and six months as an in-patient in 2004 and still attended at St Vincent's hospital for surgical, orthopaedic and psychological care.
Ms Fee said she hadn't been able to return to work and could no longer play pitch and putt or take long walks. She added that she still has numbness in her sides and suffers from depression.