Inquest adjourned for mobile phone records

The inquiry into the death of a 15 year old pedestrian, who received fatal head injuries in an accident two years ago, could not be concluded as her family asked for Garda evidence that the driver was not using his mobile phone at the time.

Leah Feeney, of Clynagh, Carraroe, died almost instantly after being struck by a car near Rossaveal Pier on May 1 2013. She had been walking along the road with a friend at twilight.

Coroner for West Galway, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, opened the Inquest by acknowledging that this would be a difficult process for the family, but pointed out to all parties that it was not an adversarial process, but rather one of inquiry.

“There is no prosecution; there is no defence – we just try to establish the facts as to what happened,” he said.

Three drivers recalled seeing Leah and her school friend, Alan McDonagh, minutes before the crash, which occurred at about 9.40pm near An Chéibh pub, on the R372, which links the harbour and the main Galway/Carraroe road (R336).

They all said it was getting dark at the time, and had to use their headlights, but two of them managed to recognise Alan, and one remembered that Leah was wearing white runners.

Mr McDonagh said that he and Leah were chatting when she was suddenly hit from behind by a car.

The driver, Colm Seoige (22), was going to visit his girlfriend in Carraroe, and told the inquiry that he had not seen the pedestrians as a car coming towards him had blinded him with its headlights.

He said that he had slowed down, as his visibility was impaired, but that he had not been blinded altogether until the car was right in front of him. By this stage, however, Leah was at his bonnet. He attempted to swerve right to avoid her, but failed, and she was thrown forward along the ditch.

Two ambulances attended the scene, but she was in cardiac arrest when she arrived in UHG, and was pronounced dead at 11.23pm.

Consultant pathologist, Dr Grace Callaghy, said that Ms Feeney has sustained serious head injuries, and had died from intracranial haemorrhage.

She agreed with the Coroner that injuries of this severity would have resulted in instantaneous death.

Accident investigator, Sgt Seamus O’Regan, said that the road was bound by a ditch and grass verge on the left, where Leah had been walking, while the other side was made up of loose chippings. There were no footpaths, nor were there street lamps, and the speed limit was 80 km/h.

Leah’s mobile phone was found 10.1m from her body, and he believed that this likely marked the point of impact; the Toyota Corolla driven by Mr Seoige was found 30.7m away from the phone.

Using data collected from the scene, he estimated that the car was being driven at an average speed of 37km/h when Leah was struck.

Barrister for the Feeney family, Deirdre Browne, questioned the absence of one Garda witness – whose statement she had received – who had tested Mr Seoige’s mobile phone, and downloaded the records.

The driver had told the Inquest that he had not been using it at the time of the crash, and that Gardaí had seized it at the scene, and had held on to it since.

Ms Browne said that her clients had continuously sought these records, but that Gardaí would only release them on receipt of a court order.

“They would like to see the activity on the phone at the time of the incident, and we understood that these would be available today,” she said.

“This is to see that they stack up with the account (given by Mr Seoige). We would ask you not to conclude the Inquest until the Garda witness is here.”

However, Dr MacLoughlin said that Ms Browne was trespassing on Section 30 of the Coroner’s Act 1962, which deals with questions of civil or criminal liability being entered into.

“Phone records are a matter of privacy… you can’t use the Coroner’s Court to do that,” he replied.

“There is a very high level of protection and right to privacy of telephone records.”

However, he did say that the Garda could confirm that he had looked at the telephone records, and divulge that there was or was not any activity on the phone at the time of the accident.

Ms Browne said that this would be acceptable to her clients.

The Inquest was then adjourned until October 16.