"I saw two people lying on the road . . . Another man was hanging half out of the car. He was crying. . ."
It was only by chance that the four friends found themselves in the same car in the early hours of Thursday, April 21st, 2005. If his lorry had not broken down the evening before, Kenneth McCaffrey would have been in England to make a delivery, but just as he was about to board the 9.15pm sailing at Dublin Port, the engine of his lorry gave out. Kenneth and his colleague Thomas Shortall decided to stay in Dublin and wait for the early departure on Thursday morning.
They drove back into the city, checked into a B and B and arranged to meet their old friend Christopher McGowan. "We met Chris and then we went back to Chris's place," says Mr McCaffrey in a low voice. Christopher owned a pub in Ballybough, and after the last of the customers filed out on to the street at closing time, there were only four of them left in the bar: Christopher, Kenneth, Thomas and Helen Power, Christopher's girlfriend, who had been working there that night.
"I don't think Helen was drinking," says McCaffrey. "We all left together. I had a shandy; I don't drink. We were not drunk."
Christopher's 1991 model Volkswagen Golf GTI was parked alongside the pub. The four jumped in: Chris in the driver's seat, Kenneth alongside him, with Thomas and Helen in the back. Chris reversed the car out on to the road and moved off.
"It was possibly around 2.30 - 3am," says Mr McCaffrey. "Everyone was in good form. I didn't have a seatbelt on, and I don't think any of the others did. . . I don't think there were seatbelts in the back seats."
They must have been about a half mile from the B and B when it happened, says McCaffrey. Thomas was talking about the Golf GTI he owned 15 years ago, and McCaffrey was listening, his attention turned away from the road ahead.
"I can recall turning around to Tommy, but I can't remember much more than that. We were talking, then I woke up in the hospital."
The bodies of Christopher McGowan and his girlfriend Helen Power, both aged 30, were so badly damaged that they had to be identified by their dental records. Thomas Shortall, who was 42, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Mater hospital. Kenneth McCaffrey was the only survivor. He remembers nothing, but a couple of nights after the incident, he recalls waking up with the vision of a white lorry in front of him.
It was about 3am that morning when Andrew Keogh got out of the taxi that had brought him out of town. He was walking up the path on Prussia Street and came to a stop at the junction with the North Circular Road. "Then this car just flew past me. It went past so fast that I thought it was being pursued. The car was going exceptionally fast." The car left Mr Keogh's sight after turning a bend in the road, but, seconds later, he heard a heavy bang and saw smoke rising from the road. He ran towards the smoke. "The roof of the car had been blown off. . . I saw two people lying on the road. . . Another man was hanging half out of the car. He was crying and rambling on." He also noticed a fourth man, his body lying motionless on the hard surface.
The night was dry and clear, Mr Keogh says, and he can't recall seeing any other cars in the mainly residential area. Near where the wreckage of the Golf stood, its engine in flames and its occupants' bodies strewn along the road, there was a white truck parked at the other side of the road.
Even in the early morning darkness, pools of blood could be made out on the road. A Garda patrol van happened to be passing, and within minutes, the road was sealed off and the ambulances began to arrive.
The Mercedes lorry at the other side of the road had been parked there by Daniel Bateman - originally from Australia - who works for a scaffolding company in Dublin and had brought the truck home on Wednesday night.
A Garda inspection of Christopher's Volkswagen Golf found that its entire body was extensively and severely damaged; so much so that its brakes, steering and electrics could not be tested. Garda John Reynolds from the forensic collision investigation unit tells the inquest that, based on his detailed study of the scene - and particularly a pattern of scuff marks he found on the road - he believes that the Volkswagen Golf was travelling at between 78-89km/h, where the speed limit is 50km/h. It crossed over to the wrong side of the road and struck the parked truck. The inquest is told that the truck was illegally parked, as this area is a part of the city where heavy goods vehicles are banned from parking.
Among the 20 people gathered in the public gallery are Christopher McGowan's parents, Helen Power's parents and three sisters and Thomas Shortall's wife. They remain motionless whispering among themselves, wiping away an occasional tear.
Helen Power died of head and chest injuries of such severity that she would have died instantly. Thomas Shortall suffered similar injuries and was deeply unconscious within seconds of the crash. The driver, Chris McGowan, suffered severe head, chest and abdominal injuries, and would have died instantly. A toxicology test showed 184mg of alcohol in his blood, which meant he had consumed twice the legal limit.
The jury returns a verdict of misadventure in all three deaths.
Series continues on Monday.