A HIGH court judge has ruled the sole survivor of a single car crash in which three young men died was the driver of the car.
Niall Sheehy, a motor dealer from Stradbally, Co Laois, had denied he was the driver, and he had also sued the estates of the three deceased men.
Mr Justice Vivian Lavan noted an engineer for Mr Sheehy had conceded in a report that it was probable Mr Sheehy was the driver of the car on the “terrible occasion” of the crash, near Stradbally, on November 16th, 2001.
Three Stradbally men – Declan Hewitt (27), Court Square; Jonathan Maher (21), Woodview; and Paul O’Riordan (35), The Green – died due to the crash.
In all the circumstances, Mr Justice Lavan ruled, on the balance of probabilities, Mr Sheehy, Ballinteskin, Stradbally, was the driver.
On that basis, he found the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland is entitled to be indemnified by Mr Sheehy in relation to a settlement by the MIBI of court proceedings brought by Colette O’Gorman, partner of the deceased Mr O’Riordan, against Mr Sheehy, representatives of the estates of the three deceased and the MIBI arising from the crash. The settlement is understood to be for about €200,000.
The proceedings against the representatives of the estates of the three deceased were struck out.
Bernard Barton, for the MIBI, had told the court the incident occurred at Oakvale, near Stradbally.
It appeared some of those in the car had attended a funeral, and there was a serious drinking session involved.
In his decision, Mr Justice Lavan said Mr Sheehy was the only person who could know whether he had been driving, but he said he had been drinking for at least 12 hours in a pub before the incident and had claimed that he had amnesia.
The judge said he did not find Mr Sheehy a very satisfactory witness, and was more impressed with his engineer’s evidence that it was probable Mr Sheehy was the driver.