A WOMAN WHO was due to give birth in less than two weeks suffered the death of her unborn baby after she was involved in a road traffic incident caused by the dangerous driving of another motorist, an inquest has heard.
Nombini Carey, Tullow Road, Co Carlow, was driving from Carlow to Bunclody on August 11th, 2007, when she was forced to take "violent evasive action" to avoid a head-on collision with a vehicle which had dangerously overtaken a truck and was coming straight towards her.
Ms Carey lost control of the Fiat Punto she was driving after she was forced on to the grass verge to avoid the car. The Punto then "spun out of control" colliding with the trailer of a truck on the other side of the road, before hitting a roadside hedge.
She suffered severe injuries in the incident on the N80 at Boggan, Kilbride, Co Carlow, including fractured ribs, extensive facial bone fractures and a twisted ankle.
She was taken by ambulance to St Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny, where a faint, slow foetal heartbeat was detected.
She was brought to theatre for an emergency Caesarean section.
Doctors there could no longer detect a heartbeat and Ms Carey was diagnosed as having experienced an intrauterine death. She was transferred to the Coombe hospital in Dublin on August 16th, where baby Brian Carey was delivered stillborn the next morning.
The inquest at Dublin City Coroner's Court heard the baby died as a result of damage to the placenta, which meant he did not receive enough oxygen.
Ms Carey's pregnancy was normal until the incident.
The court heard that the driver of the car which made the dangerous manoeuvre, believed to have been either a blue Mercedes or a blue Volkswagen Passat, has never been located, despite Garda checks of CCTV footage in the vicinity and appeals in the media.
The driver slowed down after the incident, but then drove on, the inquest heard.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said there was sufficient evidence to connect the death of the baby and the incident.
Dr Farrell expressed his condolences to Ms Carey and to her husband Thomas Carey on their baby's death. The couple have two daughters.