A county Louth woman has been convicted of dangerous driving causing the death of her nephew and niece two years ago.
Vera Murden (40) Fatima Court Dundalk had pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of one year old Jayden Murden and four year old Jenna Murden.
The children were fatally injured when the Hyundai Santa Fe SUV driven by Murden crashed into the wall of a former pub at the junction of Maxwell Row and the Newry Rd. bridge in Dundalk at 4pm on Saturday, January 31st, 2009.
Jenna died on February 24th and Jayden died on Mar 10th.
During the course of a five day trial Dundalk Circuit Court heard there were three other children in the car - John (10) a brother of the deceased children, Chloe (8), another niece of the accused and Conor (8) a son of the accused.
The court heard that there were no child seats or booster seats nor was there any damage to the seat belts in the vehicle.
A motorist Shane Finnegan who witnessed the crash said the SUV had passed him travelling at ‘excessive’ speed and then he saw it hit the building through his rear view mirror.
He was the first on the scene and had lifted some of the children from the wreck before other motorists arrived and helped.
Another motorist Carol Hutchinson said she had asked Vera Murden what had happened and she replied that she thought she had taken some kind of fit.
Dr Denis Wood a consultant engineer retained by the defence told the trial that he had examined the car driven by the accused and had found deposits of oil in the engine intercooler and Hyundai accepted that a number of issues including a problem with oil in the engine could cause the engine to over-run or accelerate out of the control.
He had estimated that the vehicle had been travelling at between 81 and 110 km/hour when it crashed and would not have been able to negotiate a right turn into Maxwell Row.
Sgt. James Walsh a public service vehicle inspector with the Garda Síochána told prosecuting counsel Jonathan Kilfeather that in his experience droplets of oil could be found in the intercooler of vehicles that were perfectly serviceable.
The evidence concluded yesterday when defence barrister Giollaiosa O Lidheadha told the court that a second technical expert due to give evidence on behalf ofthe defence was ill and unable to attend.
Addressing the jury Mr Kilfeather said the defence had failed to produce evidence of a surge, over-run or revving of the engine out of control and that a technical examination had found no defects in the steering, brakes or engine that would have led to the accident.
Mr O Lidheadha argued the evidence had been consistent with that of a car that was out of control.
He said that Sgt. Walsh had accepted that he did not know how much oil had been in the intercooler at the time of the accident and Dr Wood had expressed concern that the oil could have caused the engine to over-run and the vehcile speed out of control.
He said the jury was entitled to infer that the speed was so high that it could not have been the intention of the driver to approach the junction at that speed.
‘It just doesn’t make sense’, he said.
The jury of eight women and four men took just over two hours to deliver its guilty verdict.
Following a request from the defence, Judge Michael O Shea remanded Vera Murden on continuing bail for sentence in April and directed the preparation of the Probation and Welfare report for the adjourned date.