A bus driver was tonight found not guilty of causing the deaths of five people in Dublin.
Kenneth Henvey, whose double-decker bus mounted a kerb and ploughed into a group of around 30 people, walked free from Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Mr Henvey, 51, had been charged with dangerous driving causing the deaths of two men and three women at Wellington Quay on February 21, 2004.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The dead, whose anniversaries are tomorrow, were Kevin Garry, Kathleen Gilton, Margaret Traynor, Vasyl Tyminskyy and Teresa Keatley.
They were standing at a bus stop when the vehicle hit them.
The jury of four women and eight men took four hours to reach their verdict. During the two-week trial the jury was told that tests had proven there were no mechanical or electrical faults with the vehicle.
The prosecution stated the most obvious explanation for what happened was that Mr Henvey, for whatever reason, mistakenly put his foot on the accelerator and kept it there for almost 30 metres.
Mr Henvey's defence team maintained there was a power surge on the vehicle which caused the accident.
Colleagues of the Dublin Bus employee, who had been driving buses for 13 years, described him as a solid man and professional driver.
Mr Henvey, of Whitethorn Crescent, Palmerstown, had been working on his day off to pay for a holiday for his daughter.
Before the jury retired to consider their verdict earlier today Judge Michael White told them they could choose from three verdicts.
They included the defendant being found guilty of dangerous driving causing death, not guilty of dangerous driving causing death or not guilty of dangerous driving causing death but guilty of careless driving.
He warned them that if they accepted what was being urged on Mr Henvey's behalf, that the accident was caused by some sudden malfunction in the operation that led to the vehicle going out of control, then they must return a verdict of not guilty.
Judge White added that the prosecution had to prove without reasonable doubt that there was not a power surge.
PA