A GARDA and fireman killed while attending the scene of a road traffic incident, suffered multiple injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle travelling at high speed, a court has heard.
Garda Brian Kelleher (46) and fireman Michael Liston (47) died after being hit by a car on the N69 road in Co Limerick in 2007.
The emergency workers were attending the scene of an early incident involving an overturned Toyota Corina when they were struck by an Audi Coupe, which propelled the bodies of both men into the air.
The driver of the Audi, Niall Shannon from Lenamore, Ballylongford, Co Kerry, denies dangerous driving causing the deaths of the men at Barrigone, Askeaton, Co Limerick, on February 25th, 2007.
Yesterday, a jury in his trial heard the 21-year-old had a reading of 55 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath on the night of the fatal collision and that the legal limit for driving is 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath.
Mr Shannon has already been convicted of driving with excess alcohol on the night of the collision.
At Limerick Circuit Court Deputy State Pathologist Michael Curtis outlined the injuries suffered by both men, which he said were “fully consistent with a pedestrian having been struck by a motor car travelling at high speed”.
He said a postmortem carried out on the body of Michael Liston revealed the fireman suffered a broken neck, two separate fractures to his skull, broken ribs and a broken right wrist and left arm.
The 47-year-old also suffered bruising, abrasions and lacerations to his head and there was foliage embedded in one of the lacerations, the court heard.
The witness said Garda Kelleher had also suffered multiple injuries in the collision and that his aorta, the main blood vessel in the body, was “completely transected” or torn.