A 25-YEAR-OLD mother of one is to be sentenced later for killing a man by crushing him with her car in Blanchardstown, Dublin, four years ago.
Claire Nolan of Sheephill Green, Blanchardstown, had been tried for murder twice and the jury failed to agree on a verdict on both occasions but the Director of Public Prosecutions accepted her plea of manslaughter last December.
The court heard yesterday she drove into taxi driver and father of four Michael Duffy (66) and crushed him on January 26th, 2008, but she told gardaí she meant to knock down his son Francis Duffy.
She said she “went mental” because she thought Francis Duffy, who suffers from a mild intellectual difficulty, was getting into her car. Nolan, who was 21 at the time, had been in a gathering with friends in the house next door to Francis Duffy’s.
Sgt Micheal Kennedy told Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, that Nolan had just bought a car and “he may have been seen getting in and out of it”, which caused Nolan “to get very cross”. He agreed Francis Duffy had a mild intellectual disability but had an independent existence. The court heard she took a baseball bat and brandished it towards Mr Duffy. Francis Duffy phoned his father and also rang Blanchardstown Garda station.
Nolan got into her car and reversed it out at speed. It made a number of manoeuvres before crashing into Michael Duffy’s taxi, which had just parked up.
The crash caused a number of neighbours to wake up, the court heard.
Michael Duffy ran into the front garden of his son’s house and Nolan steered her car into the metal gates.
In her attempt to hit Francis Duffy, Michael Duffy suffered a crush injury and Nolan then set fire to the car 300 yards away, the court heard.
Brendan Grehan SC, defending, said a number of witnesses saw Nolan take cocaine that night and that a large amount of alcohol had been consumed.
He said his client “takes full criminal responsibility” for what had happened.
Mr Justice Paul Carney will sentence Nolan next Monday.