Romanians’ ‘unreal’ claim thrown out

DUO USED FAKE TRALEE ADDRESS TO FILE €12OK INJURY CLAIMS AFTER DUBLIN CRASH

A JUDGE in Dublin has labelled statements made in the case of two Tralee-based Romanians as “incredible” and “unreal” as he dismissed their personal injury claims against Aviva Insurance.

Mother-of-four Maria Petronela Moisa of Tralee, Kerry, and Sorin Moisa, also Tralee, had made claims for €60,000 each against Aviva Insurance following a car crash at Phibsboro Avenue in Dublin in March 2012.

At the hearing last week Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke said he found evidence of the car mysteriously filling up with dense smoke – to such a degree as to blind the driver and cause him to crash into a tree – to be incredible.

A man injured in the crash had maintained the driver had been blinded by oncoming bright headlights and had not mentioned smoke until cross-examined by barrister Paul O’Neill, counsel for Aviva Insurance, which fought the claims.

“It’s incredible… unreal if these stories are untrue,” Judge Groarke said.

Detective Sergeant Mark Ashford told the court he had been unable to find trace nor sign of smoke or fumes in the car following the crash at Phibsboro Avenue, Dublin, in March 2012.

Det Sgt Ashford said his suspicions had immediately been aroused when the allegedly injured passengers kept moving in and out of ambulances that had been called to the scene.

The trio were taken in ambulances to three Dublin hospitals and subsequently “disappeared”.

Letters to an address given to Gardaí were not returned, and the address – 64 Racecourse Lawn Tralee – was later found to be fictional.

Judge Groarke dismissed €60,000 claims by mother-of-four Maria Petronela Moisa, and Sorin Moisa, and awarded Aviva their costs against them. Mr O’Neill also successfully applied for a costs order against a third individual who had withdrawn a €60,000 claim just before the trial opened.