West Cork man fined for crashing into two parked cars and going home

A motorist who crashed his car into two parked vehicles — writing one off in the process — left the scene and went home, the district court has heard.

Court presenter, Sergeant Tom Mulcahy, told Clonakilty District Court that Sean O’Sullivan, aged 41 of Burgatia North, Rosscarbery, Co Cork, was charged with careless driving, failing to stop, failing to report an accident and failing to remain at the scene in relation to an incident in Rosscarbery in West Cork.

The court heard that at 12.42am on the morning of Sunday, December 22, 2024, O’Sullivan was the driver of a grey Ford Mondeo that crashed into two parked cars on Chapel Street, Rosscarbery. 

The first vehicle hit was a Volkswagen Golf valued at €18,200 that was completely written off. The second car, a Toyota Rav 4, sustained €6,102 worth of damage.

The court heard that O’Sullivan admitted driving on the night but “would go no further” and there were no witnesses to the incident. The court was told that O’Sullivan had two previous convictions, one for drink driving in 2020 for which he was disqualified from driving for two years and one for theft.

Defence solicitor, Plunkett Taaffe, said his client was driving home after socialising that night when all the lights on his dashboard “lit up” and he crashed into a parked car which in turn crashed into another vehicle. 

Mr Taaffe said it was a cold December night and O’Sullivan was “in his shirt sleeves” and his mobile phone was dead.

The court was told that O’Sullivan walked the two miles home and went to Clonakilty Garda Station at 11am the following morning to report the accident when his father was able to give him a lift as his own car was written off. 

The court heard that O’Sullivan’s insurance had compensated the injured parties in full. Mr Taaffe said O’Sullivan’s phone was found in his car and returned to him by gardaí.

Judge Joanne Carroll convicted O’Sullivan of careless driving and fined him €300 but struck out the other three charges. 

She said that clearly he did stop and he did report the incident and she conceded that at nearly 1am on a December morning there would have been little point in him remaining at the scene when there was no-one around.