A man whose car veered onto the wrong side of a road killing himself and the driver of an oncoming car was four and a half times over the drink-driving limit.
Kevin McClintock was killed instantly when his Honda Accord car smash head-on into youth worker Orla O’Reilly’s Skoda Octavia car in Co Donegal on Friday, 13th November, 2015.
Father-of-three Kevin was due to become a father again while Ms O’Reilly was due to be married just a few months later.
The double inquest into the horrific road crash on the notorious accident blackspot on the N13 at Killyverry, Newtowncunningham was held at Donegal Coroner’s Court in Letterkenny today.
The court was told that Mr McClintock, 32, and another man John McBride had been in Letterkenny and had been returning to their homes in Derry.
Ms O’Reilly, 34, a youth worker with the Donegal Youth Services, was traveling to Letterkenny for meetings on the day.
Garda evidence revealed how the black Honda Accord car veered onto the wrong side of the road and impacted directly with the Skoda car.
So severe was the impact that the Honda car split in two with the back half of the car being found 60 metres down the road.
The Skoda, which suffered catastrophic damage, came to an immediate stop at the side of the road.
Both Mr McClintock, from Derry and Ms O’Reilly, from Carnamoyle, Muff, died at the scene while Mr McBride was rushed to hospital.
Witness Adrian McLaughlin, who was returning from leaving a relative to Belfast Airport, told how he suddenly saw a black car coming around a corner at him sideways.
He pulled into the side of the road but the car then collided head-on with another black car which had been traveling behind him.
Garda Damien Mulkearns, a Public Service Vehicle Inspector, said both cars had been in good serviceable pre-accident condition.
However, he said that neither Mr McClintock or Mr McBride were wearing seatbelts but that Ms O’Reilly was.
Garda Gerard McCauley, Garda Forensic Collision Operator, told the inquest how the day was wet but that the surface of the road, which was governed by a 100kph speed limit, was good.
He said the Honda Accord rounded an easy bend but that the car lost control and veered into the wrong lane before hitting the Skoda Octavia being driven by Ms O’Reilly.
Garda McCauley said he could not determine the exact speed of the Honda car as there had been scuff marks but no skid marks but said it was certainly traveling in excess of 100kph.
He added that the damage to both cars was the worst he had seen in his career.
“It was catastrophic,” he said.
The family of Mr McClintock asked questions and said there was no proof that it was Kevin who was driving the car.
Coroner Dr Denis McCauley said the inquest was not an exercise to apportion blame and said the McClintock gave had a right to get various depositions in the case.
Pathologist Dr Gerry O’Dowd said both deceased had suffered multiple injuries and the cause of death as due to multiple injuries.
He said that Mr McClintock’s blood/alcohol reading was 229 milligrams.
Coroner McCauley explained the drink driving limit was 50 milligrams of alcohol to blood which meant that Mr McClintock was almost four and half times over the drink-driving limit.
In the case of Mr McClintock, the jury returned a finding or death due to multiple injuries.
In the case of Ms O’Reilly, the jury returned a finding or death due to multiple injuries and returned a finding of misadventure.
Coroner Dr McCauley sympathised with the families of both the deceased persons.