A teenager clung to the back of a car for over half a mile along a rural road before he eventually fell and suffered fatal head injuries, an inquest has heard.
Colin Kenny (17), Leamore, Tullamore, Co Offaly, died at Dublin's Beaumont hospital a week after the accident in Leabeag, Tullamore.
A friend of the teenager told Dublin City Coroner's Court yesterday that he dared driver Thomas Finnegan to go faster after he jumped on to the boot of his moving car shortly before the accident on the evening of May 26th, 2005.
Finnegan, of Boora Avenue, Leabeag, Tullamore, was convicted of dangerous driving causing death at a sitting of Portlaoise Circuit Criminal Court on July 5th last. The provisional-licence holder, who pleaded guilty to the charge, was handed down an 18-month suspended sentence, fined €5,000 and disqualified from driving for five years. The inquest heard that four young friends had just left the Lough Boora Inn where they had been playing pool when Mr Kenny jumped on to the boot of the car, which was already in motion.
Matt Kennedy and Colin Hanniffy, who were both in the front passenger seat, saw the 17-year-old clinging to the boot for over half a mile before he fell. "Colin was on the boot and daring him to go faster. We drove on a short distance before Colin fell off," Mr Hanniffy said. Mr Kennedy estimated the car was travelling at 30mph when Mr Kenny fell off.
Finnegan said he thought his friend was joking when he saw him lying on the road following the fall. But when he saw that Mr Kenny was bleeding from an injury to the head he drove him to Tullamore General Hospital.
The jury returned a verdict of death by dangerous driving in line with that handed down in the criminal court.