Driver who killed pensioner had taken drink and drugs
A YOUNG mother who had consumed a large quantity of alcohol and drugs and had no driving licence caused her own death and that of a great-grandfather on his way to a hospital appointment in a car crash, an inquest has heard.
John ‘Pops’ Nulty, 72, from Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, was killed in the head-on collision with Rachel Coughlan, 34, from Finglas, Dublin, Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard.
Both died instantly in the crash which occurred on Drumcondra Road Lower in Dublin at around 6am on March 22, 2019.
The inquest was yesterday told that Ms Coughlan was four times over the legal drink-driving limit, while she had also been using cocaine and some other drugs.
The unemployed mother-of-two, who had 36 previous convictions, did not have a valid driving licence at the time of the fatal collision.
Investigating garda, Sergeant Fergal Finnegan, said a threequarters empty naggin of rum was found in Ms Coughlan’s vehicle, although he could not say when it was consumed.
The inquest heard evidence that she was ‘under some mental distress’ in the hours before the crash due to ‘domestic issues’.
A taxi driver, Gerry Healy, told the inquest that he was involved in a separate collision with Ms Coughlan just minutes before the fatal collision with Mr Nulty.
Mr Healy said he was stopped at traffic lights on Clonliffe Road waiting to turn right onto Drumcondra Road Lower when he noticed in his rear-view mirror a car coming towards him at high speed and then striking his vehicle. When he got out to speak to the other driver, he told her that he thought she was drunk as he could not understand what she was saying. Mr Healy said Ms Coughlan denied being drunk but stated repeatedly about her partner being ‘back there with another bird’. She then took off in her vehicle while Mr Healy was trying to contact gardaí.
The taxi driver said she bullied two cars in the left lane out of her way with her horn before mounta ing the footpath and turning right onto Drumcondra Road Lower before appearing to cross towards oncoming traffic.
Mr Healy, who came across the scene of the fatal crash a short time later, said he got the impression she was suicidal.
Several other eyewitnesses described seeing Ms Coughlan’s car driving at high speed erratically along Drumcondra Road Lower.
In a written statement Mr Nulty’s widow, Frances, said her husband, whom she described as careful driver who never had an accident, was on his way to an appointment in the Mater Hospital. Ms Nulty said her late husband, a retired caretaker and father-of-seven, was a real family man who enjoyed ‘football, a pint and pitch and putt’.
Sgt Finnegan said Ms Coughlan’s car was travelling at such speed that CCTV footage showed it was ‘almost airborne’ as it passed over a hump-backed bridge over the Royal Canal. Coroner Dr Crona Gallagher said tests showed Ms Coughlan had an alcohol level of 225mg per 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 50mg. The coroner said the results showed evidence of cocaine use as well as small traces of benzodiazepines.
Garda Alan Quinn, a vehicle inspector, said Ms Coughlan was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision, while the airbags in her Volkswagen Passat also failed to deploy on impact.
Dr Gallagher returned a verdict of misadventure in relation to both deaths and noted that the speed driven by Ms Coughlan and the substances consumed by her were contributory factors.
So fast her car was ‘almost air-borne’