A motorist whose car veered to the wrong side of the road, hitting another vehicle and causing the death of a woman with intellectual disabilities said she thought of the bereaved family “all the time”.
A verdict of accidental death was recorded at an inquest following the death of Sharon Healy (41), from Kiskeam, Co Cork.
She died in the collision on the N22 at Brennan’s Glen on the N22 between Farranfore and Killarney, Co Kerry, shortly before 2pm on March 8th, 2020.
Ms Healy had been out for Sunday lunch with her parents Ted and Peg shortly before the crash.
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Kerry Coroner’s Court heard how motorist Maedbh Heaney, then a University College Cork student, was driving to a match with a friend, Emma Maguire, when her car went around a bend on the wrong side of the road and collided with the Healys’ car.
Ms Healy was a back seat passenger in the car being driven by her father. She died at the scene. Her mother sustained serious injuries.
Giving evidence by video link, Ms Heaney (25), from Rochestown, Cork, cried and said the Healy family were never far from her thoughts and she had no recollection of what occurred.
“I’m so sorry that all of this happened. I’m sorry for Sharon, Ted and Peg. If there was anything I could do differently I would. To Ted and Peg as well, I think of ye guys all the time,” she said.
Ms Heaney asked forensic collision investigator Sergeant Tomas Barry whether she may have hit a pothole on the road causing her car to cross over to the other side of the road.
He said there was no evidence to support this proposition. Two potholes she mentioned were 60.5 metres from where the crash occurred, he told the hearing in Tralee.
Ms Heaney was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash and both vehicles were roadworthy, the inquest heard. Speeding was also not an issue.
Mr Healy told the inquest it was as though Ms Heaney’s car had dropped out of the sky.
“There was an awful bang. I can recall the windscreen shattering. I could see the other car in the ditch. Peg was saying she couldn’t breathe. She was falling over to my side. Her seat was twisted. I knew Sharon was gone.”
His wife said she lost consciousness in the aftermath of the collision. “I don’t remember anything for a week after the crash. I was told she [Sharon] didn’t make it,” Ms Healy said.
Ms Heaney was later found guilty of careless driving causing the death of Sharon Healy and of causing serious bodily harm to Peg Healy and to Ms Maguire.
In May last year she was sentenced to 120 hours of community service, banned from driving for six years and fined €7,500. The court heard she worked in cancer research in the US.
Assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster carried out a postmortem on Sharon Healy at University Hospital Kerry.
It showed she died of polytrauma with blunt force trauma to her thorax and abdomen in addition to laceration of internal organs.
Coroner Aisling Quilter commended all who came to the assistance of the injured parties on the day. She offered condolences to Ted and Peg Healy at the loss of their daughter.
The inquest heard it was a source of “great solace” to the Healys that their daughter’s death was “instant”. They thanked the coroner for her assistance.
