An Armagh truck driver killed five people when he crashed into a minibus in Co Wicklow which was carrying children to a special school, a prosecutor alleged at the opening of a trial yesterday. The accident occurred in 1998.
Two children, two professional carers and the bus driver were killed in the crash, Mr Barry Hickson told a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
It was the first day of the trial of Mr Victor Teggart (26), of Green Acre, Markethill Road, Co Armagh, who has pleaded not guilty to five charges of dangerous driving causing death on September 14th, 1998, at Barndarrig, Co Wicklow.
The victims were bus driver Jacky Kavanagh (49), Sharon Sheehan Byrne (23), her sister Fionnuala Byrne (21), Robert Cullen (11) and Kevin O'Leary (10).
The minibus was travelling to St Catherine's Special School in Newcastle, Co Dublin, when the crash happened on the N11 motorway near Jack White's pub.
Mr Hickson said Mr Teggart was travelling south from Armagh at the time and his truck crossed to the wrong side of the road at a wide bend before it crashed into the minibus.
A prosecution witness, Mr Shelton Doyle, said he was travelling north along the N11. He approached the minibus being driven by Jacky Kavanagh on the hard shoulder. He said it was possible to pass the bus without crossing the white line in the middle of the road.
He saw a truck coming around the corner with its wheel crossing the white line. Mr Doyle said he swerved to the right-hand side of the road to avoid it, though he didn't have any memory of doing so. He pulled back to the hard shoulder on the left-hand side of the road and got out of his car.
Cross-examined by Mr George Birmingham SC, defending, he said the minibus was doing about 50 m.p.h. when he passed it. He said the truck appeared to be travelling at normal speed.
Another prosecution witness, Ms Roisin Connolly, said she was driving her car north behind the minibus and another vehicle. The minibus was travelling on the hard shoulder all the time she saw it.
She told Mr Hickson she saw a truck come from the other side of the road towards the minibus before she heard a bang, looked up and saw the carnage.
Ms Connolly, cross-examined by Mr Birmingham, said the minibus had been travelling with two wheels on the motorway and the rest of the vehicle on the hard shoulder.
The trial, before Judge Kieran O'Connor and the jury, is expected to last three days.