Careless driving jury urged to ‘put sympathy aside’
The jury in the trial of a taxi driver accused of careless driving causing the death of a 92-year-old church sacristan at Ballintemple village in Cork one year ago will commence their deliberations today.
Bertie Byrne, aged 64, of Elderwood Drive, Boreenmanna Road, Cork, denies the charge that on February 6, 2018, at Ballintemple village, Blackrock Road, Cork, he drove a car without due care and attention thereby causing the death of another person, namely Dan O’Connor.
Closing speeches by the prosecution and defence were made to the jury yesterday and it only remains for Judge Gerard O’Brien to address the jury today.
The incident at the centre of the case occurred shortly after lunchtime on that date at the pedestrian crossing outside the post office on Blackrock Road in Ballintemple when the deceased was walking across the road using a crutch-style walking stick.
Mr Byrne was not working at the time and was driving up from the Páirc Uí Chaoimh side on Park Road on to Blackrock Road.
Donal O’Sullivan, prosecuting, said to the jury yesterday in his closing: “You can see clearly Mr Byrnes is a decent man and there is sympathy for him as well. But you have to put sympathy aside and look at the driving.
“What I say to you happened here is that it has fallen below the standard of reasonably competent driving and that he did not look carefully where he was going.
“Mr Byrnes’s car drove into him or drove into his walking stick. We know he [the late Mr O’Connor] was on the road. He ends up down on the road and he dies afterwards, unfortunately.
“If he could not see because of the sun he should have stopped.”
James O’Mahony, defending, said in his closing speech yesterday: “The road markings were all wrong where this happened and there was strong sunlight.
“The road junction [markings] is changed because of it. Engineer Philip O’Doherty’s evidence is of colossal importance in this case. He went back down on February 4 this year to see what the scene would be. There are circumstances where you can be blinded.
“You can go and be as careful as you like but if you are suddenly blinded and you cannot see, that can happen.
“Accidents do happen, they happen all the time. It does not mean that a person has not met the standard of a reasonably competent driver.
“It is not just Bertie Byrnes’s view. The guards felt the sun was a factor. It was a huge factor.”
