Psychiatric patient allegedly grabbed steering wheel before crash

A woman who sustained four fractured limbs in a head on car crash in which her parents died has sued for damages.

Emma Kenneally (35) told the High Court she had to be cut from the wreckage and thought she was going to die after a car veered onto her side of the road as she drove home from a shopping trip in Kilkenny.

It is claimed the car veered across the road and hit the Kenneally’s vehicle after a psychiatric patient, who was a front seat passenger, grabbed the steering wheel while his sister was driving.

Tom Kenneally (65) and Angela Kenneally (61), from outside Templemore, Co Tipperary, died as a result of the collision which happened about 6km outside Kilkenny on August 24th 2011.

Ms Kenneally fractured all four limbs as well her spine and ribs and spent three months in hospital afterwards.

“The car was going directly for me. I did not have time to react. It came straight for me. I felt my car spinning around and it came to an abrupt stop. Pain took over my whole body,” she told the court.

Ms Kenneally, a teacher, of Barnane, Templemore, said she could hear her mother calling her father’s name after the crash but he was not responding.

Passenger

She has sued Elizabeth Dillon, Bowsfield, Killerig, Tullow, Co Carlow, the owner and the driver of the other car, and Ms Dillon's brother, Seán, of the same address, who was the front passenger in the car.

It is alleged that Mr Dillon grabbed the steering wheel as his sister drove. Ms Kenneally has also sued the HSE, as owner of St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, where Mr Dillon had received treatment. She has also sued the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland arising from the allegation that Mr Dillon was in control of the car at the time of the accident.

It is alleged the reason Ms Dillon’s car went onto the wrong side of the road was because her driving was compromised by the actions of Mr Dillon, at that time a psychiatric patient under the care of the HSE at St Luke’s Hospital.

It is further alleged that Ms Dillon allowed her brother to travel as a front seat passenger when she knew, or ought to have known, it was potentially unsafe to do so.

It is claimed that the HSE released Mr Dillon into the care of his sister when it was allegedly dangerous and unsafe to do so and there was an alleged failure to ensure there was adequate assistance available to Ms Dillon to manage the behaviour of her brother. The claims are denied.

Opening the case, Hugh Mohan SC, for Ms Kenneally, said she was blameless in the accident and had no time to blink or swerve. She had a prolonged bereavement reaction afterwards and while she had returned to her job as a national school teacher, she later had to move to a job share arrangement, he said.

The case continues on Friday.