A driver who was three times over the legal alcohol limit has denied that she had bent down to change a tape in the car's sound system when it crashed. The two passengers in the car were pronounced dead at the scene after the crash.
Frances Flanagan (30) of Lurganmore, Castleblaney, has pleaded not guilty at Monaghan Circuit Court to one charge of dangerous driving causing death and a second charge of drink-driving.
Giving evidence to a jury trial presided over by Judge John Hogan yesterday, Castleblaney Garda Eva McCrystal said she had found Ms Flanagan hysterical at the roadside and smelling strongly of alcohol. Such was Ms Flanagan's distress that she was sedated twice at the scene by a general practitioner, Dr Gerry Cummins. The second sedative was administered after Ms Flanagan was told of the deaths of her two friends.
In a statement made to gardaí and read out in court, Ms Flanagan said she had been drinking with friends Teresa Murray and Seamus Walsh in Castleblaney on the afternoon of September 18th, 2004. Garda McCrystal also gave evidence that Ms Flanagan had told her at the scene of the crash that the drinking was in celebration of her new car, a blue 1994-registered Volkswagen Golf, as well as Mr Walsh's purchase of a new house.
According to Garda McCrystal, Ms Flanagan said: "We were celebrating Seamus buying a home in Bree. We were fighting over a Kylie tape."
A witness, Eileen Duffy, told the court that it was her recollection that Ms Flanagan had mentioned the music, with Ms Flanagan allegedly saying that Seamus Walsh had been teasing her about the quality of the music. "She said he had been slagging her about the music, the Kylie Minogue tape, and she had bent down to change it," Ms Duffy told the court.
However, Ms Flanagan, in one of a series of three statements to gardaí, denied that she had bent down to change the tape and that this was the cause of the crash. The statement also said she was "dumbfounded" when shown the results of alcohol tests on a blood sample provided by her. The statement suggested some alcohol may have remained in her system from the previous day.
A second witness, Mary Gallagher, said she was one of the first on the scene of the crash and observed Mr Walsh in the front passenger seat of the car before he died. Ms Gallagher asked if anyone had summoned a priest. She then did so herself and, as a first aid kit was retrieved from her car, she prayed beside Mr Walsh, who, she said, was able to move a hand but who was unconscious. She also noticed Ms Murray in the rear seat directly behind Mr Walsh but there were no obvious signs of life.
The road where the crash occurred was described as being about three miles outside Castleblaney on the Monaghan town road. It had recently been resurfaced and while there were a number of memorial stones at the crash site and in the vicinity of the point where the car left the road, there were no danger signs.
The trial continues this morning.