A GARDA who hit and killed two men while driving home from work had no tax and no driving licence at the time, a court heard yesterday. He was fined a total of €900.
Garda Enda Clifford, (34), who pleaded guilty to the offences, also admitted driving with two bald tyres, failing to display a road tax certificate, and failing to produce a valid driving licence.
The court heard the tyre thread on one of the wheels of the garda’s car at the time was “quite bald and excessively worn”, while another was “worn to the extent that the plier cord was exposed”.
The court was told he was a member of the Garda Traffic Corps, but this was later denied by colleagues.
He was driving home from work with a female colleague shortly before midnight on January 12th, 2011, when his car hit two men on the M20 motorway.
Both men were “on the ground in the middle of the motorway” when he hit them, Limerick State solicitor Michael Murray said.
Mark Farrell (23) and Gavin O’Callaghan (20), both from Cork city, were killed instantly.
Dan O’Gorman, representing Garda Clifford, said his client had “no criminal culpability” in respect of the “dreadfully tragic accident”.
Mr Murray said the State “accepted there was no complaint in the manner of Garda Clifford’s driving”.
Garda Clifford, from Dromin Heights, Milltown, Co Kerry, and with an address at Dooradoyle, Limerick, is based at Henry Street Garda station in Limerick.
The Director of Public Prosecutions brought the case against him after it received a file from the Garda Ombudsman Commission, which had investigated the fatal collision. A number of investigators from the commission were present for the hearing.
“He has no previous convictions. He is of impeccable good character and he’s a very upstanding member of the community,” the solicitor told Judge Timothy Lucey.
The judge imposed fines of €200 on the garda for driving with no licence, and driving with no tax.
The charges of failing to produce a valid driver’s licence, and failing to display a valid tax cert, were taken into consideration.
Judge Lucey imposed fines of €250 each in respect of the two bald tyres that Garda Clifford was driving with at the time of the crash.