A man who formerly won the Mr Ireland competition has sued for damages alleging he has been left with a brain injury as the result of the wheel of a refuse truck running over his head in Dublin's Temple Bar.
Padraig Hearns was bleeding and stooped over on the side of a street as a result of having earlier been assaulted and punched five or six times in the nose when an incident involving a refuse truck occurred in the early hours of the morning, the High Court heard.
Mr Hearns, who was previously the country's first male model and who represented Ireland at the Mr World contest, had tyre marks on his back and head after the incident on April 23rd, 2007, his counsel Michael Howard SC said.
Mr Hearns, who was in 2007 employed as an air steward with British Airways, had been out celebrating having become a godfather to his brother's child, counsel said.
He suffered various fractures including a skull fracture and was in an induced coma for over a week due to his injuries. He spent more than seven months in hospital, suffered significant cognitive impairments and double vision and had to have arm and eye operations, it was stated.
Lisa Walsh, a sister of Mr Hearns, told Mr Justice Michael Peart her brother believes his life has been destroyed.
“Padraig before the accident loved life and was the life and soul of every party. He had a huge aura about him and was extremely well liked. Now his quality of life is gone completely. It is very heartbreaking,” she said.
Mr Hearns (39), Lower Hollywood Cross, Hollywood, Co Wicklow, has sued Dublin City Council as a result of the incident involving a bin lorry on Sycamore Street, Temple Bar, at about 2.45am on April 23rd, 2007.
It is alleged, under byelaws governing the collection of refuse in the city, that refuse collection should only take place between 6am and midnight unless otherwise authorised by the council. The council denies liability.
Opening the case, Mr Howard argued, had the council complied with the byelaws, this incident "could never have happened" and he fully accepted the refuse truck driver and his colleagues on the truck were very traumatised and upset by what happened.
At the time of the incident, a Sunday morning between 2am and 3am, thousands of people were converging on the streets of Temple Bar, counsel said. The refuse truck driver was placed in “an impossible position” in being asked to collect rubbish when pedestrians were converging on streets in Temple Bar as the nightclubs closed.
Sycamore Street was 3.34 metres at its widest and, with wing mirrors, the refuse truck was about 3.1 metres wide, he said. “It is a tight space.”
In statements afterwards, the truck driver and his colleagues said they started work at 2am and, as they drove up the street, he saw Mr Hearns stooped bleeding from the nose and a girl giving him tissues.
In a statement read to the court, the driver said he heard a bang but did not take notice of that as people were “always messing”. He said he drove a couple of feet at about 5mph and people shouted stop.
“I was afraid I was after hitting someone,” the driver said in his statement. When he and the other workers got out of the truck, they saw Mr Hearns lying near the back wheel. The driver said he had no idea what happened and thought Mr Hearns had hit his head off the side of the truck.
Mr Howard said the driver had been put in a difficult position by his employer but, if any effort had been made to check after hearing the bang, the incident would not have happened.
The case continues.
