A DONEGAL man has been convicted of killing his friend in a driving incident in Co Louth in which several witnesses said he appeared asleep as he drove on the wrong side of the road.
Oliver Shovelin (32), of Clondallon, Rathmullen, was remanded in custody for sentence by Judge Tony Hunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Shovelin's 27 previous convictions included several for drink-driving, Sgt Brendan Goodison told Fergal Foley, prosecuting.
The jury found him guilty of dangerous driving causing the death of his passenger, John Sheridan, and also causing bodily harm to Deirdre O'Brien at Cookstown, Ardee, on July 11th, 2004.
Sgt Goodison said Shovelin was "known to the insurance companies", and had twice refused to give a breath sample to gardaí.
Judge Hunt ordered probation and psychological reports to be prepared for the sentence hearing.
Shovelin was travelling on the N2 to Dublin with Mr Sheridan to see Donegal play Armagh in the All-Ireland football championship when the collision occurred. Witnesses told how they saw him drive at speed on the wrong side, causing traffic to swerve to avoid him.
Ms O'Brien was travelling to a horse show, towing a horse box, when she met Shovelin coming at her head-on. She described seeing his van "zig-zagging" before coming in a straight line towards her. Other motorists swerved to avoid him, and she attempted to do the same.
"I remember thinking I had to move out of the way. I knew he was going to hit me, but I thought if he hit me on my passenger side I might have some chance of surviving."
The next thing she could remember was a loud bang and seeing the engine "all around my legs". Her horse box was thrown into the air and the animal crashed through the roof, landing in the middle of the road. The horse had to be put down.
Brendan Carbury, who was travelling to the match with his family, said he noticed Shovelin behind him "driving like a maniac" and when he attempted to overtake him he appeared to have his eyes closed. "My initial reaction was 'oh my God, that man is asleep'," he told Mr Foley.
Dr Ralph Horey, the doctor on call at St Brigid's hospital, Ardee, said he pronounced Mr Sheridan dead at the scene from a suspected broken neck. Shovelin was unconscious with serious head and chest injuries.
Dr JK Nasser, an orthopaedic surgeon at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, said Ms O'Brien had multiple leg fractures.