A man has been charged in connection with a fatal road collision which claimed the lives of two friends as they were travelling to catch a flight with their partners for a foreign holiday.
Anthony Long (28) from Leddington, Leamlara, Co Cork was charged this morning with dangerous driving causing the deaths of Brendan Donnelly and Lee Salkeld on the main N25 at Caherulton, Castlemartyr, Co Cork on October 26th, 2009.
The two men killed in the collision, Brendan Donnelly (24) from Beech Drive, Greenfields Waterford and father of one, Lee Salkeld (26) from Fairfield Park, Old Tramore Road, Waterford had been on their way to Cork airport to catch a flight to Amsterdam for a short holiday. Their partners, Laura Connolly and Kate Flynn, both survived the crash.
At Midleton District Court today, Det Garda Cormac Ryan gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution in relation to Mr Long.
Det Garda Ryan said Mr Long replied to the charge after caution: “Never in my life did I ever think that I would cause so much pain and suffering to so many people. I’m deeply sorry for what I’ve done and if there was anything I could ever do to change that past, I would gladly do so.”
Insp Senan Ryan said that the DPP had indicated that the matter should be dealt with at Circuit Criminal Court level given that two people had lost their lives.
Mr Long’s solicitor, Ken Murray said that his client had indicated that he wished to go forward on a signed plea of guilty to the charge to the Circuit Criminal Court for sentence.
He said that his client had been interviewed by gardai after the incident and he was aware since then that he would be facing charges and he had made himself available to gardai at all times and not sought to evade justice at any time.
Judge Michael Pattwell returned Mr Long on a signed plea of guilty to Cork Circuit Criminal Court for sentence and remanded him on his own bail of €100 and an independent surety of €3,000 to appear at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on June 15th.
He also made it a condition of Mr Long’s bail that he would provide both his landline and mobile telephone numbers to the gardai so that they can contact him at any time whenever they choose.