Mother-of-two cleared of careless driving causing death of grandfather (83) in Clare

Gordon Deegan

On Friday, a jury found a mother-of-two and a social worker not guilty of the careless driving causing the death of an 83-year-old grandfather in the east Clare village of Mountshannon in November 2022.

At Ennis Circuit Court, a jury delivered a unanimous not guilty verdict in the case where Libby Gunning (45) of Ogonnelloe, Scarriff in east Clare had denied driving her 06-registered vehicle on November 5th 2022 at the R352 road at Mountshannon, Scariff without due care and attention thereby causing the death of pedestrian, William Hickey.

The jury gave their verdict after deliberating for 90 minutes and a number of members of Mr Hickey’s family were visibly upset after the verdict was read out.

Judge Francis Comerford expressed his deepest sympathy with them on their loss.

He said that they are difficult cases and that the jury had taken a very forensic and cold look at the facts in accordance with the law.

On the night of the collision, Ms Gunning had her five-year-old son in the car at the time of impact at 7:44pm and told him in order not to worry him that she thought that she had had hit a deer before getting out of the car.

Owner of Cois na hAbhna pub in Mountshannon, Geraldine Minogue told the jury that she heard Ms Gunning say in the aftermath of the road traffic accident that “she didn’t see him and didn’t mean to hurt anyone”.

Mr Hickey was struck shortly after he exited the pub where he had just ordered a pint of Carlsberg.

In a prepared statement provided to gardaí in July 2023, Ms Gunning said that it was pitch dark on the night and the public lighting on the main street in Mountshannon is of poor quality.

The social worker with Clarecare said that “as I drove up the main street, I heard a bang and I realised that I had hit something”.

Ms Gunning said that she spoke to a Garda at the scene and told him that the pedestrian “seemed to come out of nowhere”.

A native of Woodford, Co Galway, Ms Gunning said that she was driving at a slow speed and is a very careful driver.

She told gardaí: “There was nothing I could have done to avoid the accident."

Ms Gunning said that she has huge sympathy and is sorry for Mr Hickey and his family and continues to be extremely distressed over what happened.

In the three day trial, Ms Gunning was represented by barrister, Patrick Whyms BL and solicitor, Daragh Hassett in the case.

Counsel for the State, Thomas Rice BL (instructed by State Solicitor for Clare, Aisling Casey) told the jury in his opening speech that Mr Hickey was returning to the Cois na hAbhna pub at 7:44pm when he was struck by Mr Gunning's car.

Mr Rice said that on impact, Mr Hickey was swept onto the bonnet and his head struck the windscreen of the car and he sustained multiple blunt force injuries including a fracture to his skull.

Mr Rice said that Mr Hickey died at the scene.

Mr Rice said that alcohol is not a factor in the case as Ms Gunning was breathalysed at the scene and did not have alcohol in her system.

He said: “While the deceased had ordered a drink he didn’t consume it. He decided that he had to go out of the pub briefly.”

In his opening statement to the jury on Wednesday, counsel for the State, Mr Rice argued that Ms Gunning was at fault.

He said that the Garda examination of the vehicle found that the bulb in one of the headlights when on dim was blown.

He said: “So when Ms Gunning was driving through the built up area of Mountshannon only one lamp was working.

He said: “It was a dark November night. If one is driving a car you must ensure that you have a clear view before you drive the car through a built area.”

A family member of Mr Hickey said after the jury’s verdict today that Billy is remembered "as a loving husband, father, grand-father and great grand-father who doted on his grand-children and great grand-children”.

She said: “He was a fine, fit, healthy man and would have had maybe another 10 years of life but for what happened."

She said Billy and wife Eva had just marked their 61st wedding anniversary the day before November 5th 2022.

The family member said Billy had just come out of evening mass on the evening and was only in the pub a few minutes before exiting onto the road and she said that there was no evidence to say that Billy was in a hurry on the night crossing the road.