A JAILED Limerick driver who is suing the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland for compensation, has said that the jury and the Court of Criminal Appeal “got it wrong” in convicting him over the death of teenage girl almost ten years ago.
Gearoid Cleary (32), who says that the nightmares of the accident still haunt him, told the High Court that he is still aggrieved that he was charged and convicted over a high speed crash on September 9, 2006 which claimed the life of 19-year-old Emma Woodland.
Ms Woodland died from serious head injuries when the car she was crossing the Ballysimon Road in was hit by Gearoid Cleary’s Honda Integra.
The Limerick man was later jailed for four years and banned from driving for ten years after a jury convicted him following a contested one week trial.
Lawyers for Mr Cleary claimed that the accident would not have happened if he wasn’t “violently rammed” from behind by the uninsured driver of a high powered BMW who fled the scene.
Latvian national Roman Andreas, who was drunk on the night of the crash, pleaded guilty to dangerously driving the BMW and causing the death of Ms Woodland and was jailed for three years, but the State said that this did not exonerate Gearoid Cleary, who, they claimed, was also driving too fast on the night of the fatal accident.
In his High Court lawsuit, Mr Cleary, who now works 20 hours as a cashier in a city casino, is seeking to be compensated for back injuries he suffered in the accident and for the ongoing “depression, shock and upset he has suffered to this day because of the loss of the life he has been blamed for”.
Mr Cleary said that on the night of the accident he was driving around the city while waiting for a phone call from a friend who wanted a lift home.
Accompanied by his girlfriend, Mr Cleary drove up William Street in the city centre and on to Mulgrave Street near Limerick Prison when he noticed a silver Toyota Starlet which was emerging from a road on his right and crossing the main road he was driving on.
Mr Cleary said in evidence that he “got a thud from behind,” adding; “well I was really shunted from behind. It was liking hitting a person with a sledge hammer”, he told Mr Justice Brian Cregan.
“My car spun and lost control. The Starlet was crossing the road and when I spun, the front of my car hit the back passenger side of their car.
“After I hit the Toyota Starlet, my car spun and hit a wall backwards”, he said.
Mr Cleary’s car was written off and he described how he “had to break the driver’s window to jump out. I went to my girlfriend as she said she couldn’t move or breath – I held her and waited until the ambulance arrived. She broke her two hands as well.
“I didn’t know that the woman in the other car was deceased until later in the hospital.”
Mr Cleary told the High Court that he never met Roman Andreas before and that the Latvian fled the scene. When Gardai arrived, Mr Cleary said that he pulled the registration plate of the BMW out of the bumper of his on car where it was embedded.
After CCTV footage from the area was shown to the court, Mr Cleary denied that he was “blocking” the BMW from overtaking or that he was “dicing or racing with the car behind”.
He did however accept that he was “travelling at ferocious speed” when counsel for the MIBI, Michael Gleeson SC put it to the 32-year-old.
“I wasn’t racing anyone – if Roman Andreas says he was racing, then he is on his own with that – I certainly wasn’t racing – your client might say that.
Mr Gleeson said that “I am not acting for Mr Andreas – I am acting for all the other drivers who drive the highways in this country and who pay their insurance and for all those other drivers who don’t pay.”
When asked what the cause of the accident was, Mr Cleary said that “If your man wasn’t drunk it wouldn’t have happened. If I wasn’t speeding it wouldn’t have happened, but my speed was only one of the factors.
“I accept that I should have pulled in way before this happened”, Mr Cleary said but he denied he was driving in excess of 90kmph on the city centre road.
When it was put to him, Mr Cleary denied “fearing that the black BMW might have better acceleration than the Honda” forcing him to continue his speed.
Mr Gleeson further put it to the Mr Cleary that he was “engaged in extremely dangerous driving – you were dicing with death”.
“I accept that it was careless, but I wasn’t to blame for it all”, Mr Cleary replied.
When asked if the High Court law suit was a way of getting retribution, Mr Cleary said “I feel I was wrongly convicted”.
Accepting that he was “aggrieved” by the conviction, the 32-year-old said that “the jury got it wrong as did the court of criminal appeal”
When he was asked if the legal structures in Ireland were to his satisfaction, Mr Cleary said, “not really”.
Mr Gleeson asked if “this action in your part is an attempt to get somebody to say that it wasn’t your fault, but Mr Cleary denied this.
“A young girl lost her life – I don’t like to relive those memories”, Mr Cleary said before he denied that he was “dicing with death that night” by allowing the pursuit to continue.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Brian Cregan.
