AN INQUEST was told yesterday how a mother and daughter out on a walk on a summer’s evening in Co Donegal were killed after they were struck by a car speeding at over 14Okm/h.
Garda evidence revealed how the body of Louise McLernon had been found hanging over a wire fence while her mother’s body had been found in a drain at the side of the N56 road.
Martina McLernon and her teenage daughter Louise were killed instantly when a car being driven by Seán Goldrick hit a drain and flipped across a road in Gaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal, on May 24th, 2008.
The inquest at Letterkenny Coroner’s Court heard how the mother and daughter were staying at the family’s holiday home in nearby Bunbeg when they decided to go for a walk.
Ms McLernon (45) and her daughter (15) had just passed the local An Cuairt Hotel when they were struck by a grey Toyota Carina. The car, which Goldrick, then aged 19 had bought for just €350, did not have a certificate of roadworthiness.
At an earlier court sitting, Goldrick was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of the women. The last 12 months of the sentence were suspended. He was also banned from driving for seven years.
Forensic collisions investigator Garda Kevin Giles said an investigation found that Goldrick had been traveling at almost 144km/h when he struck the back of another car, a blue Peugeot car being driven in the opposite direction and lost control.
Martin McLernon, the husband and father of the victims, from Staffordtown Road, Toome, Co Antrim, who went to the scene said: “We had become concerned as they had been away for well over an hour.”
Coroner John Canon said of all the inquests he had attended, this case reflected the worst trauma he had experienced.
“This was a shocking tragedy involving a road traffic accident which took the lives of two people – a mother and daughter out for an evening walk in a scenic area of Donegal. This was a place you would consider the safest place on Earth,” he said.