Lorry driver in road death case fails to stop his trial

THE DRIVER of an articulated lorry charged with dangerous driving causing the death of another lorry driver on the M4 motorway has lost his High Court attempt to stop his trial.

James Rynn, Millcastle, Castlepollard, Co Westmeath, is charged with dangerous driving causing the death of Frank Moore arising from an incident on the M4 near Barrogstown, Maynooth, just before 9am on November 20th, 2008.

In judicial review proceedings, Mr Rynn claimed the failure of gardaí to preserve the two vehicles involved, so they could be inspected by an engineer for him, created a real risk of an unfair trial.

In his judgment yesterday, the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, said Mr Rynn was the driver of an articulated lorry coming from Dublin which drove into the back of a coal lorry travelling in the same direction.

After the accident, the coal lorry was found on the left-hand hard shoulder of the motorway, he said.

It had shed its load, although whether that shedding began before or after the collision was unclear.

Mr Moore, the driver of the coal lorry, was found on the road margin to the passenger side of his truck with severe head injuries and died at the scene, the judge said.

The position of his vehicle and body suggested the coal lorry was pushed forward into the collision with him after he dismounted from his cab to investigate some problem with his vehicle or load.

Mr Justice Kearns found Mr Rynn had not engaged specifically with the evidence but rather focused entirely on the possibility of some mechanical failure in the coal lorry that might have caused it to stop suddenly.

There was no claim some mechanical failure in Mr Rynn’s lorry caused it to run into the coal lorry, the judge said.

In those circumstances, the clear legal obligation on Mr Rynn was to maintain a sufficient distance behind a vehicle in front so as to be able to cope with any emergency that might arise, including the sudden stopping of a vehicle in front.

It seemed “largely, if not entirely immaterial” that the coal lorry may have stopped or pulled over because it had begun to shed its load for some reason or because, for example, a child wandered out in front of it, he said.

Mr Rynn, in his affidavits, had failed to state what he himself believed caused the accident and had simply stated a consulting engineer was of the view the coal lorry may have been forced to stop because of driveshaft failure, the judge noted. This was “all mere conjecture”.

There was nothing to prevent Mr Rynn calling the engineer to give evidence about the possible cause of the crash, he said.

The Garda case could also be challenged on the evidence currently available and no defence was closed off to Mr Rynn.

This case was not one of those exceptional “missing evidence” cases justifying prohibition, he ruled.

The judge added he would also have refused the application because of Mr Rynn’s delay in seeking inspection of the vehicles.

While Mr Rynn was charged in 2009 and appeared to have had legal advice, the first request for inspection was not made until March 2010.

Prosecuting authorities could not be expected to store large vehicles for indeterminate periods while those facing prosecution “sit on their hands”.

The judicial review application was not brought until August 2010 when the book of evidence was served in February 2010, he further noted.

Such delay was “totally unacceptable”.