An inquest in Co Waterford has heard how a 19-year-old student and part-time bar tender died after being catapulted from the back of a van driven by a drunken and speeding driver. The driver had given her and her friends a lift home after a night out.
Marie Walsh, a student from Mahon Bridge, Co Waterford, had been socialising with friends in Dungarvan before going on to a local nightclub in the early hours of February 2nd, 2002.
At around 4 a.m., Ms Walsh was waiting in rain for a taxi to bring her and her friends home. Ms Emma Kirwan, a friend of the dead girl whose brother, Alan, was also in the back of the van and was seriously injured, said they were all soaked when they were offered a lift by David Noonan, who they knew.
She said: "I sat in the front with my friend Deirdre, and Alan and Marie went into the back which was full of tools.
"Dubie [Mr Noonan] was driving very fast, and he was veering every now and again. The speed got faster and he was certainly going over 70 miles per hour. There was a lot of surface water on the road and he asked us if we were scared.
"Deirdre was the first to be dropped off, and he drove up the narrow twisting laneway at high speed. When we came back down onto the main road, I put my seat belt on and he asked if I didn't trust him. He increased his speed and I asked Marie if she wanted to stay the night in our house because she would be last to be dropped off and I did not want her to be left in the van.
"Then the accident happened. He lost control of the van in surface water. It went across to the opposite side of the road and hit the ditch several times. It was like being in the bumper cars.
"When it stopped moving, I asked was every one alright and there was no response. The driver started moving and I tried to get out but the door was jammed. I climbed out the window. I saw Marie and Alan lying on the road with tools scattered all around."
Noonan was arrested at the scene of the accident on suspicion of drunk driving, and was given a 12-month prison term late last year after being convicted of dangerous driving causing death.
The inquest jury in Tramore returned a verdict of death due to multiple injuries received in a road traffic accident.