A jury in the trial of a farmer charged with dangerous driving causing the deaths of two teenage girls in Avoca almost three years ago yesterday returned a verdict of not guilty.
Cyril Hobson (36), of Kilmagig House, Avoca, Co Wicklow, was charged with dangerous driving causing the deaths of friends Stephanie McCauley (15) and Vanessa Byrne (13) in June 2003. Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Hobson, who is deaf and mute, had denied the charges.
Wicklow Circuit Court had heard that the girls died shortly after leaving a village sweet shop at lunchtime on June 28th, 2003.
They crossed the road at the junction of Beech Road and Avoca Bridge and were hit by Mr Hobson's trailer as they stood between the vehicle and a wall. Mr Hobson's trailer was laden with 20 bales of silage at the time.
A witness had described seeing a girl's body turning with the trailer's wheel, "like clothes going around in a tumble-dryer and dropping in a heap".
Judge Pat McCartan described the case as "one of unbelievably tragic proportions" and "one of the saddest I have ever had to hear".
After less than 15 minutes, the jury found Mr Hobson not guilty on both counts.
As the verdict was delivered, members of Vanessa Byrne's family walked out of court, while Mr Hobson's sisters wiped tears from their eyes.
In his closing statement, Paul Murray, for the prosecution, told the jury that it was "highly unlikely that you will ever hear such a bad case as this".
He argued that the evidence, including that of a 16ft blind spot on the vehicle, enabled the jurors to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr Hobson was guilty of dangerous driving.
All the "ingredients" that might be considered - the circumstances of the case, the condition of the vehicle, the nature of the place and the traffic - supported the indictment, he said.
This was disputed by John O'Kelly SC, for Mr Hobson. The trial had been unusually short, he said, because the facts were not in dispute, but the case was unusual in that none of the typical factors that arise in cases of dangerous driving - alcohol or speed, for instance - played any part.
Mr Hobson had taken care at the junction, first by stopping at the white line, then stopping again and checking his mirrors before turning left on to Avoca Bridge .
While Mr Hobson had seen the girls pass his tractor cab between one and two minutes before the incident, "was it unreasonable to expect that, in a minute, the girls would have walked past the tractor and trailer?"
The girls' deaths were the result of an accident, he said, and there was no evidence that Mr Hobson had driven in a manner far short of what would be reasonably expected of any driver.