Emer O’Dea, a 27-year-old woman, has been acquitted of careless driving causing the death of Noel O’Callaghan in 2019. O’Callaghan was lying on the road between Lynhams Hotel and the Beechwood estate in Laragh when O’Dea’s Volkswagen Golf collided with him, causing his death. O’Dea was found not guilty of this offence and two others under the Road Traffic Act of failing to offer assistance and failing to stay at the scene of an accident. Witnesses testified that two other drivers had seen an object on the road, which they initially thought was a bag of rubbish or a deer. However, O’Dea hit the object and was later found to be O’Callaghan’s body, which was dragged for almost 19m along the road. The defence claimed that O’Dea had slowed down as there was an oncoming vehicle with bright lights, and she thought the object on the road was a plastic bag until she realised she had hit a person. O’Dea went to her boyfriend’s house to get help as she had no mobile signal, and the court heard she gave different statements to Gardai about the incident. The prosecution argued that she made no attempt to get assistance for O’Callaghan. The deceased was intoxicated and wearing dark clothing, and witnesses testified he had taken a wrong turn from where he was staying in Laragh after being out socialising earlier that night.
