The trial of a Co Cork woman who is charged with dangerous driving causing death has been told that her car seemed to vanish in a cloud of smoke and dust after it crashed into a concrete pillar.
21-year-old Theresa Dingivan, from Pearse Square, Fermoy is pleading not guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing the deaths of Michael Murphy and James Sexton at Strawhall, Fermoy on 5 August 2007.
The State alleges Theresa Dingivan lost control of the Honda Civic car she was driving when she overtook another car on a country road at Strawhall.
The court was told that alcohol was not a factor in the case.
Witness Catriona Drislane told the jury of seven men and five woman that she was driving behind Theresa Dingivan's Honda Civic car just before it overtook another car, a Toyota Corolla.
She said she saw the Honda Civic overtake on the right-hand side of the road, attempting to pull in, in front of the Corolla, but loosing control, hitting a wall, and ‘vanishing in a cloud of smoke and dust before stopping on the other side of the road’.
Garda Eugene Farrell, who answered the emergency call, described the 13-year-old Honda in which the two deceased and three others were travelling, as being almost in two halves, having sustained substantial damage to its right side.
Garda Vehicle Inspector Micheal O'Donovan told the court that while the right rear tyre of the car was badly worn, he was satisfied that it was not the cause of the accident.
While it needed replacing, the road was dry at the time, and there was no problem with traction, he said.
The case was adjourned until tomorrow morning when the findings of a survey carried out on the car on behalf of Ms Dingivan will be put to the Garda Vehcile Inspector.
