THE SUPREME Court has overturned a High Court decision halting the trial of a truck driver on a charge of dangerous driving causing serious harm to another man. The trial of Liam Toohey will now proceed on that charge.
However, because gardaí had not preserved an allegedly bald tyre on the truck, thus depriving Mr Toohey of an opportunity to have his own expert inspect it, the Supreme Court halted the trial of Mr Toohey on a charge of driving with an excessively worn tyre.
The court noted the truck had been returned by gardaí to Mr Toohey's employer on the day after the incident in question. It was repaired shortly afterwards and the tyres replaced.
Mr Toohey, of Sragh, Ballinaclogh, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, was charged over the incident near Campile, Co Wexford, on November 9th, 2004, in which his truck collided with a car, resulting in serious injuries to the other driver.
He sought to prevent his trial because of the failure to have the truck available for inspection on his behalf by a technical engineer. Without such an inspection, he claimed, he had no reasonable chance of refuting the evidence.
Upholding that claim in the High Court in January 2007, Mr Justice Peter Charleton said vehicles in crash cases should be preserved until charges are brought and an opportunity is given for a defence expert examination.
Giving the Supreme Court's judgment on the DPP's appeal, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan - with whom Mrs Justice Susan Denham and Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman agreed - ruled Mr Toohey had failed to establish a real risk of an unfair trial on the charge of dangerous driving causing serious harm.
Mr Justice Finnegan said the case against Mr Toohey on that charge was that he drove the truck on the wrong side of the road and had collided with the oncoming car. The evidence of the prosecution on that charge consisted of Mr Toohey's statement at the scene, another cautioned statement by him to gardaí and the evidence of a garda as to what he found at the scene.
It was not suggested in relation to that charge that an excessively worn tyre had caused or contributed to the crash. The prosecution had undertaken not to call evidence relating to damage to the truck and there would be no expert reconstruction of the crash.
Mr Toohey had established a real risk of an unfair trial on the charge of using a truck with an excessively worn tyre, the judge said. It was "reasonable, practicable and necessary" that the tyre should have been preserved to enable it to be inspected on Mr Toohey's behalf.
