An inquest into a 22-year-old driver on the Ring of Kerry yesterday heard how the man appeared to be in a race with another car when a head-on collision occurred with a vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
John O'Sullivan, a carpenter from Mountfoley, Kells, died from his injuries at Aghatubrid on the main Ring of Kerry road while travelling towards Waterville from Cahersiveen on the afternoon of February 5th, 2006. The weather was dry and the roads quiet at the time, the inquest heard.
The charred remains of Mr O'Sullivan's body were removed from the car, a red Toyota Corolla, which had been burned out.
However, a postmortem revealed he died from his injuries, not from the burning, the inquest heard. His girlfriend, Caitriona Moriarty, in her deposition said they had passed the car of Craig Quirke (22) parked at the Coláiste na Sceilge school on the outskirts of Cahersiveen. At a straight stretch of road at Ohermong, Craig Quirke passed them out in his vehicle.
She and Mr O'Sullivan proceeded in their car until they came on another straight stretch of road. At about 3.30pm John O'Sullivan went to pass out Craig Quirke, both vehicles were going quickly but she couldn't tell at what speed. At one stage during the passing-out manoeuvre they were halfway past Craig Quirke but the passing out was never completed.
She heard her boyfriend saying "Oh, my God" and then he braked hard. She sustained very serious injuries in the crash.
Tony McGillicuddy, Spunkane, Waterville, was travelling with his girlfriend, Sheila Coffey, in his silver Nissan Primera in the opposite direction from Waterville towards Cahersiveen.
On the brow of a slight hill "suddenly and without warning" he noticed two cars were coming towards him. "They appeared to be racing each other. I knew at once there was going to be a collision," Mr McGillicuddy said.
Ms Coffey, New Street, Cahersiveen, said in her statement she saw two cars coming towards them "taking up the entire road" and travelling extremely fast. The red car was on the same side as her boyfriend's.
"Tony said to me 'we are finished' as he braked. Within moments the red car impacted with us."
Mr McGillicuddy's leg was trapped in their car but he eventually managed to free himself. Shortly afterwards the red car effectively blew up.
The jury brought in a verdict of accidental death.