Destruction order granted for car involved in fatal Bundoran collision

A police property application for the surrender to the state of a car involved in a fatal road traffic collision has been granted.

Judge Sandra Murphy sitting at Donegal District Court on Monday, February 24 also granted an order for the Peugeot 306 to be destroyed.

Inspector Sean McDaid told the court that gardaí had made contact with the registered owner, Conor Brennan of 44 Coolran Road, Tempo, County Fermanagh.

“He has instructed us that he has no objection to surrendering it to the state,” said the inspector.

The car has been in the possession of gardaí since the collision in August 2018. It was held by gardaí as a result of being involved in a crime of dangerous driving causing death. 

While not the driver of the vehicle when the collision occurred, Brennan was the registered owner and front seat passenger at the time. 

He was one of six occupants of the car when it was involved in a single vehicle collision in the early hours of August 19, 2018, at Single Street, Bundoran.

The car was driven by Joseph Gilroy who was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for the charge of dangerous driving causing the deaths of Shiva Devine and Conall McAleer.

A court sitting in 2021 heard that Brennan was told by Gilroy on the night that he had an open insurance policy. However, Gilroy had been disqualified from driving by a court in Enniskillen seven weeks earlier, thus invalidating the policy. 

The 2021 court sitting heard that there was no mechanical fault with the vehicle at the time, and that Brennan thought he was doing the right thing in letting his friend drive, given that he himself had consumed alcohol.

At the court sitting on Monday, Judge Sandra Murphy said that in the circumstances, she was satisfied to grant both orders.