AN Eyeries man who drove over the ankle of his work colleague over 12 months ago has ended up being disqualified from driving for two years.
Ryan Quirke of Boffickil, Eyeries, Beara did not appear at Bantry District Court where he was charged with careless driving, driving without insurance and having no driving licence.
The court heard evidence from Michael Dennehy that he had been working on roadworks at Mounteensudder, Glengarriff on December 9th 2022.
While they were clearing up to go home at around 5.30pm, he said that Mr Quirke drove into him as he was fixing the wing mirror on his van, which had gone out of focus after the defendant had pulled it out.
‘He drove over the back of my ankle and knocked me to the ground,’ he told the court. ‘I had a full set of high-vis gear on, so there was no reason why he didn’t see me. I couldn’t even stand and I had to ring my foreman to come back. I was in agony and they put me in another van where I was taken to Bantry General Hospital.’
He said he had to wear a boot for a week due to the swelling. When he went to hospital in Cork he was told he had three broken bones.
The court heard that he has consulted his solicitor about the injuries he received.
Defence solicitor Colette McCarthy said there was a bit of ‘messing’ going on where her client moved Mr Dennehy’s wing mirror and then drove too close to him and rolled over the back of his ankle.
‘There was no bad blood between them. They worked together,’ said Ms McCarthy, who added that her client has no previous convictions. She said she had met him once but he doesn’t seem to attend to matters and despite contacting him, she heard nothing back.
Gda Daniel O’Donovan of Bantry Garda Station said he contacted Mr Quirke about the incident.
Mr Quirke had indicated that he would produce his driving documents to Gda O’Donovan.
Gda O’Donovan said that following the complaint made by Mr Dennehy, the defendant failed to attend a number of appointments in February of last year and he didn’t answer his phone calls.
‘On March 29th last he did attend the station and a voluntary caution memo was taken from. He said he pulled up by Mr Dennehy’s van to chat to him but he took a step back and that’s when he caught the back of his ankle,’ said Gda O’Donovan.
Mr Quirke told him it was a complete accident and that he stayed with him until he got to hospital. He said he was the registered owner of his car, had a full driving licence and was fully insured.
‘He signed the memo and he never produced any documents for driving that day.’ Judge James McNulty said the court was satisfied that Mr Dennehy was a reliable witness and he convicted the defendant of the three charges.
He disqualified Mr Quirke from driving for two years, convicted and fined him a total of €1,200 for careless driving, having no insurance or driving licence and gave him 90 days to pay those fines.
Recognisances for an appeal were fixed in the defendant’s own bond of €500, all in cash which had to be lodged within 14 days.
