"I ran up to Brian and had a look to see how bad things were. . . then I ran back to the truck and dialled 999"
When the red light on the dashboard started flashing, Brian Finn pulled in and brought the truck to a stop in a short lay-by off the main road.
He was losing air, the light warned him, so he put a call through to the MAN dealer who looks after repairs and maintenance for him, and waited. A self-employed truck driver, Mr Finn had just left Naas, Co Kildare and was on his way to a site in Killinane. The November air was cold and the surface on the Monread Road was still wet from the earlier rainfall. He sat in his cab and waited, the hiss of tyres on soaked tarmac to be heard as a steady run of traffic made its way on towards Sallins. It was about 3.30pm.
"MAN arrived at about 3.50pm, the mechanic that arrived was Brian," says Mr Finn. "I knew the chap from going in and out of the garage. I didn't know his surname, I just knew him as Brian."
The mechanic, Brian Gargan, pulled his van in behind the truck in the tight lay-by. Dusk was falling gently but the streetlight directly above the cab gave him enough light to spot the fault and start carrying out the repair.
That Thursday, carpenter Michael Conway had been working at Barberstown Castle. He left work at about 4.40pm and drove his blue Suzuki Swift through Straffan and into Sallins and then on to the Monread Road. He was well acquainted with the road - his girlfriend lived in the area. By now darkness had fallen.
After about an hour at work on the truck, Mr Gargan lifted his head and gave Mr Finn the signal. All done. I'll get you back out on the road, he said. The clock read about 4.50pm, Mr Finn says. Mr Gargan had a look for oncoming traffic, but nothing was coming, so he walked on to the road to guide the truck out again.
"I looked as well and there were cars coming in the other direction heading towards Sallins," says Mr Finn, "but nothing was coming from Sallins. I'm certain of that. Brian stood out on the road. He was wearing his overalls - I'm not sure of the colour; he wasn't wearing any high visible vest."
In the Suzuki, meanwhile, Mr Conway turned left at the Millennium roundabout, down the Monread Road. "I proceeded onwards at approximately 25-30 mph. I noticed on my left hand side a vehicle with its lights on, facing the direction I was coming from. As I proceeded on another three to five yards I noticed it was a lorry. There was a lot of oncoming traffic and a few oncoming cars behind me. I don't know how many. I pulled out slightly one to two yards to the right. As I proceeded onwards about another two to three yards I noticed a second vehicle directly behind the first . . . on my left-hand side of the road.
"The next thing I noticed was a dark figure standing directly in my path between the kerb and the white lines, directly in front of my car. Next thing was immediate impact."
With the sharp bang, Mr Finn says, Mr Gargan vanished from his sight. He leapt from his truck and saw the mechanic lying face down on the ground farther down the road, by the end of the 27-foot truck. "I ran up to Brian and had a look to see how bad things were, and when I seen how bad he was I ran back to the truck and dialled 999. Then I came back to Brian. He was shaking, so I went back to the truck to get my jacket and I put my jacket over Brian." Mr Conway also helped in any way he could.
As a photograph of the damaged Suzuki is shown to the inquest, three members of Mr Gargan's family leave the courtroom. As a Garda vehicle inspector details the extensive damage to the bonnet and front windscreen of the Suzuki to the quiet courtroom, the sound of sobbing can be heard from the corridor outside. The damage is consistent with the pedestrian having "gone over the car", says Sgt Donal Prendergast. "From my experience, that kind of damage wouldn't be unusual for hitting a pedestrian, even if you were travelling at 40 mph."
Mr Gargan (33) died of very severe head injuries, including extensive fractures of the skull. In her summary of the evidence, deputy Dublin city coroner Dr Maria Colbert tells the jury that Mr Conway did not intend to injure Mr Gargan, while, in the public gallery, Mr Conway shakes his head slightly, agreeing, his eyes trained on the bench in front.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
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