Jonathan may have fallen asleep at wheel

THE death of a 26-year-old Wexford man in a road crash on the N11 last January was recalled at an inquest in the Wexford Coroner’s Court in Gorey last week.

Jonathan Cahill of 14 Fishers Row, Wexford, died when his car collided with a bread van at Garrycleary, Oylegate, on January 9.

Garda Declan Dennehy told the inquest he was called to the crash at Kyle Cross on the main Enniscorthy Road. He found a badly damaged car on the verge of the road, and he also saw the bread van which had extensive damage to its side. The deceased was lying on the side of the road.

The driver of the van, Peter Maguire, told him the car veered across the road into his path. Mr Maguire provided a roadside breath specimen, and passed.

A doctor arrived on scene and pronounced Mr Cahill dead at 5.20 a.m.

Witness Damien Butler arrived on scene shortly after the crash at 4.35 a.m. and was flagged down by Mr Maguire. He went to Mr Cahill’s vehicle, and saw that the driver’s door and the side panel were missing. There was no-one in the car, and he saw a man lying on the side of the road with extensive injuries.

Peter Maguire told the inquest that he had passed the turn-off for Crossabeg when he saw the vehicle coming towards him. ‘In no time at all, the vehicle struck me, and I lost control of the van,’ he said. He added that visibility was poor, with patchy fog.

A deposition was read from Yvonne Condren from Bray who said she was in a bar in Bray that evening, and Jonathan Cahill was there. She last saw him at 2.10 a.m.

Garda Alan Collins also attended the crash site, and reported severe fog intermittently.

Pathologist Dr Maurice Murphy read details from the post mortem report pre- pared by Dr Rob Landers. The conclusion was that death was due to multiple severe injuries consistent with being sustained in a road traffic accident.

Coroner Dr Sean Nixon commented that Jonathan’s death was certainly instantaneous, and he recommended a verdict of accidental death as a result of a road traffic accident. He expressed his sympathies with Mr Cahill’s family and friends on the tragic loss of such a young life.

A representative of the family asked if it was possible that Jonathan had fallen asleep. Dr Nixon replied that there was no way of saying for sure, but it was quite possible he drifted on the road, given that it was a straight stretch of road, and he would have been quite fatigued.

‘ The likelihood is he may well have fallen asleep and drifted,’ he said. ‘ Something caused his loss of concentration and there were no skid marks.’