Man's diabetes impacted his brain function at time of fatal collision, court told

Sonya McLean and David O'Sullivan

The trial of a man accused of causing a fatal road traffic collision on a Dublin motorway four years ago has reached its closing stages.

Gerry Daly (57), of Derby Lodge, Brownstown, The Curragh, Kildare, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the death of Jacqueline Griffin (39) at junction five of the M50 on January 24th, 2019.

Roderick O'Hanlon SC, defending, said in his closing speech on Tuesday that Mr Daly was not in a position to control the decision to drive at the time of the “appalling and tragic accident”.

The court has heard that Ms Griffin died of catastrophic head injuries after her car was forced into crash barriers. She was killed instantly.

Mr O'Hanlon said that due to Mr Daly's diabetes and extremely low blood sugar levels at the time of the collision, his brain function and ability to process what was happening in front of him had diminished.

He said Mr Daly was driving in “an autonomous condition”, and that “he was unaware where he was or exactly what had happened”. He told the jury Mr Daly's blood glucose levels were low, which impacted “the ability of a person's brain to function”.

Garnet Orange SC, prosecuting, said the defence of automatism would not be suitable given the circumstances of this case.

He explained that the defence requires a “complete loss of control” and said that you cannot avoid criminal responsibility when you have “failed to do something that may have avoided the danger to somebody else”.

Mr Orange said Mr Daly had suffered from diabetes most of his adult life and that “he knew how to deal with it, he knew how to monitor it”.

He said Mr Daly failed “to take simple precautions that he knew about to avoid the risk”.

He urged the jury to be objective and impartial when deliberating and said the decision they would make while deliberating “is one of the most important decisions you're going to have to make in your life”.

The trial continues before Judge Elma Sheahan and a jury.