Man who crashed into steam engine on St Patrick’s Day to be sentenced tomorrow

THE man who crashed his car into a miniature steam engine pulling a small trailer during the St Patrick’s Day parade in Stradbally will be sentenced next Thursday.

At the October sitting of the case, 60-year-old defendant Raymond Barrett of Luggacurran entered not guilty pleas to two counts of dangerous driving, having no driving licence, having no motor tax and to failing to produce a driving licence as well as engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour on Main Street, Stradbally on 17 March 2024.

When Mr Barrett’s case was called last Thursday, 2 January, his solicitor Seamus Taaffe told Judge Andrew Cody that he did not know why his client was not in court as he had attempted to contact him over the Christmas period to ensure that he would be present. He said he had no instructions on how to proceed with the case.

Judge Cody said that he had set 2 January as the hearing date for the case and that it was proceeding in the absence of the defendant.

He called the prosecuting garda Brian Kelly to give his evidence.

Garda Kelly said he had been on duty in Stradbally on the day in question, when he was alerted to a traffic collision at about 11.45am.

He said that when he approached the driver of the car that had driven into the rear of a trailer that was being towed by a mini-steam engine, “the driver became very abusive towards me. He told me to f**k off, that I was just two ends of a prick”.

Judge Cody asked Garda Kelly to read the statement that Mr Barrett made to gardaí following the incident.

In it, he said that at the time he was driving into Stradbally to purchase groceries and “got caught up” in the St Patrick’s Day parade, “and got stuck behind a mini-steam engine and trailer”.

He said that his Jack Russell dog, which was tied to a seat belt on the passenger side, “pulled out of his collar and jumped between my feet. The dog basically caused the car to drive forward at pace into the trailer, which caused it to go on its side. There was a child and a woman in the trailer. The steam engine ended up colliding into a parked car. I eventually stopped my car by pressing on the brake and turning off my car. A woman pulled the keys out of my car. The gardaí arrived, took my details and also seized my car, as I had no tax on it. Eventually, the sergeant brought me home. My driver’s licence was out of date by approximately one month. I apologise for any inconvenience caused. I did not receive any injuries from the traffic collision”.

Sergeant JJ Kirby said the St Patrick’s Day incident received a lot of publicity. He said a video of the incident was circulated widely on social media.

Garda Kelly said that there was no CCTV recording of the incident, only of a video that was recorded by an unknown bystander on their mobile phone.

Judge Cody asked for the footage be shown to the court and entered into evidence.

Judge Cody asked whether Mr Barrett was in the middle of the parade at the time of the incident, to which Garda Kelly replied: “He forced himself into the middle of it. He came around a corner and there was a gap between the steam engines.” The court was told that Mr Barrett’s car was later examined and a number of defects were found on the vehicle. The tyres were badly worn and there were particular issues with its brakes.

The first witness, Marian Moore, who was present at the incident on the day, was called to give her evidence.

She told the court: “I was standing on the street. Nicola was sitting in the back of the trailer. I said hi to Nicola, as we were planning on going for a drink. The next thing, Raymod Barrett ran his car straight into the back of the trailer. When I realised who was in the car, I ran across and turned it off.” Ms Moore said that she is the person in the video who is seen running across and turning the car off and taking the keys out of the ignition.

“He said, ah, please, don’t take the keys,” said Ms Moore.

Sgt Kirby asked Ms Moore if she had seen a dog in the car at the time.

“When he got out, I saw the dog get out as well,” she said.

Next to take the stand was Paul Knowles.

Giving evidence, he said he had been across the road and saw the “car hit the trailer. It shunted it up the road. I ran across the road. I was standing beside the vehicle and noticed Mr Barrett put a spare key into the ignition. I was worried that he was trying to leave the scene. I put my hand in and removed the spare key. He verbally abused me and said I was nothing but a robbing bastard. There were about 15 or 20 people around that general area at the time.” One of those who was injured on the day, Nicola Glynn, then took the stand.

She told the court that her nephew Harry, who was 12 years of age at the time, had been driving the mini-stream engine and she was sitting in the trailer instructing him what to do.

She said: “I saw Harry going up into the air. I tried to reach him, but I couldn’t catch him. He went out my line of sight. I saw the engine go over my head. I thought that I was going to get scalded so I put my hands above my head. I thought it had been the bigger steam engine that had hit us, but when I turned, I saw the bonnet of the car and the steam engine turned over.” She said that both herself and Harry were taken to hospital.

Joe Casey was next to give his evidence.

He said he had been driving another steam engine behind the mini-steam engine.

He said: “We had just come around the back of The Square. A silver car came down the other side and just as I was about to come out onto the road, he (Mr Barrett) came in between me and the smaller stream engine. I took no notice. But next thing I heard a bang and I saw the car shoving the smaller steam engine up the road. I stopped my engine and ran up the road. A couple of us grabbed the small engine to make sure that it was safe, because its front wheels had broken off and it was lying down. I then went looking for Harry.” Her said he estimated that more than 1,000 people were on the street from Sylvester Phelan’s shop down the road to Dick Dunne’s.

“If there had have been kids in front of that (mini-stream engine), there could have been somebody dead,” said Mr Casey.

Richard Dooley told the court that he had been attending the parade with his family.

“My daughter was in my arms on the footpath. I was talking away to her. We saw the steam engine coming along and saw Mr Barrett drive into the back of it.” Paddy Nolan said that he had not seen the accident, but lives in the house next to where it occurred.

He said: “Someone came into me and told me that my car had been damaged. I went out. There were a lot of people on the road. The lady (Nicola Glynn) was on the ground. There were people trying to push my car back from where she was.” He said that €3,500 worth of damage had been caused to his car. He said that Mr Barrett’s insurance had paid for the damage.

The final witness was Stacey Corbally.

She said: “I was on the opposite side of the road. I was attending to my son when we heard a bang. I saw a load of steam going up in the air, which was very hard to tell where it was coming from, whether from the car or the steam engine. I saw Nicola and Harry on the ground,” she said.

Mr Taaffe said that he was not in a position to offer any evidence in his client’s defence as he was not present and had not received any instructions from him.

Judge Cody asked to view the footage of the incident again, as he wanted to see if there was any sign of brake lights being applied at the time of the incident.

“There doesn’t seem to be … none whatsoever,” he said.

He said that he was satisfied with the evidence to convict Mr Barrett on all charges and asked if the defendant had any previous convictions.

Garda Kelly said there were three previous convictions. Two for drink-driving in 2002 and in 2003 and a careless driving conviction in 2014.

He said that gardaí had been approved an application in September to disqualify Mr Barrett from driving until medical proof could be produced to deem him fit to drive.

Judge Cody said: “This was a shocking incident, particularly for Nicola and Harry, who were participating in the St Patrick’s Day parade, and all the other people who have given evidence today. They were people out with their families, waving at their friends in the parade and looking forward to going for a drink on St Patrick’s Day.

“This person appeared in his car when people were out celebrating their Irishness. He was abusive to the gardaí. He was abusive to bystanders. He tried to start the car again and drive on. The only thing he was concerned about was not to take the car keys off him. No concern for the other people involved.” He asked Ms Glynn, who he said “got the brunt of this”, to again take the stand and inform the court how the incident had affected her since.

She said that she sustained severe back pains, had to take time off work and is not fully able to participate in daily activities. She’s had to attend physiotherapy and finds it hard sleeping at night with reoccurring nightmares.

“The whole thing was just a shock. I didn’t see it coming. I’ve been quiet anxious and now nervous in a car, even when my husband is driving,” she said.

Asked how Harry is coping, Ms Glynn said: “Harry is a typical 13-year old. He thinks that he’s invincible. He thinks he’s famous and loving the limelight. But he also suffered a lot. He suffered severe damage to his foot and got road burn. He has a scar from it, which will be there for the rest of his life. Other than that, he’s a typical young lad that loves adventure.” Judge Cody asked had Ms Glynn put in a claim, “which you are 100% absolutely entitled to?” She said that she hadn’t.

Garda Kelly said that Ms Glynn and her husband Nigel have been very involved in the steam rally over many years and “both would be seen as the main driving force behind it”, he said.

Judge Cody said: “Stradbally is renowned, certainly in this country and internationally, for the work it does for the preservation of the steam engine culture.” He said: “Mr Barrett should be here. It’s a very serious matter.” He went on to issue a bench warrant for his arrest.

On the following day, Friday 3 January, Mr Barrett was brought before the court on foot of the bench warrant and was represented by stand-in defence solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick.

Garda Paul Dooley told the court that he executed the bench warrant earlier that morning. He said there were no issues during his arrest.

Ms Fitzpatrick said her client was not in court the day before because he thought he was due in court at a later date in January.

Garda Dooley said Mr Barrett had told him the same thing while he was executing the bench warrant.

“I understand that he was convicted in his absence yesterday,” said Ms Fitzpatrick. “He is asking for bail as he has no warrant history and will undertake to attend court next Thursday, 9 January. Unfortunately, because he is in receipt of a disability payment (multiple sclerosis suffer), he has no money with him to offer for bail and will come to court by taxi.” Judge Cody said that the solicitor who had been representing Mr Barrett the previous day had attempted on numerous occasions to contact him, but without success.

Mr Barrett told the court: “I broke me phone and had to get a new one and have a new number. I had assumed it was the 25th of January. I’m sorry about that. But I would have been here. I got mixed up in the dates.” Asked if he knew his new phone number or if he had his phone with him, Mr Barrett said he didn’t, but would phone his solicitor Mr Taaffe with it.

Ms Fitzpatrick said that she had not been present during Mr Barrett’s case the previous day but was aware of the circumstances surrounding it.

“It’s a little bit more than the circumstances,” said Judge Cody, “his attitude was appalling to the gardaí, to Garda Kelly and towards the innocent bystanders that went to his assistance. They were told to f**k off and called names. Garda Kelly was told that he was two ends of a prick. While they are serious offences, it is a little bit more than that.” Ms Fitzpatrick said that thankfully, Garda Dooley was not met with the same attitude while he was executing the bench warrant earlier that morning.

Sgt Kirby asked whether Mr Barrett is currently driving or has access to a car, or to any motorised vehicle.

He replied that he had no car or tractor. “The only form of transport I have is taxis,” he said.

Judge Cody went on to remand Mr Barrett on his own bond of €100 to appear again at Portlaoise District Court on Thursday 9 January for sentencing.

“Make it very clear to him, he is not to be anywhere near a car, good, bad or indifferent. He was very lucky that nobody was killed in this accident,” said Judge Cody.