Four young people, including three friends celebrating their Leaving Certificate results, died instantly when the car they were travelling in skidded on a hillside road in torrential rain, collided with a wall and ended up on its roof, an inquest in Co Tipperary has heard.
Eighteen-year-olds Grace McSweeney, Zoey Coffey and Nikki Murphy and Ms McSweeney’s older brother, Luke (24), all died from severe craniocerebral trauma when his car skidded on a wet road at Hillview, Mountain Road, Clonmel at 7.30pm on August 25th last.
The McSweeney siblings were from Mountain Road, Clonmel, Ms Murphy was from Toor, Ballypatrick, Clonmel and Ms Coffey was from Lake Drive, Kilsheelan.
Coroner Joseph Kelly, sitting at South Tipperary Coroners Court in Clonmel, heard the two rear tyres on Mr McSweeney’s eight-year-old BMW 4 Series had tread depths below the legal limit of 1.6mm with the wires on the left rear tyre exposed.
Public service vehicle inspector Garda Eamon Raleigh said having tyres below the legal tread depth was “a dangerous defect” as it affected a vehicle’s grip and traction on a road surface when accelerating, braking and turning, particularly when the surface was wet.
The braking and steering systems on the BMW were working properly before impact, said Garda Raleigh, who noted that the car’s National Car Test (NCT) certificate was a year out of date.
Forensic crash investigator Garda John Coughlan told the inquest it was impossible to establish the exact speed at which the car was travelling when it mounted the kerb and struck a small wall at the entrance to Hillview Sports Centre before spinning and landing on its roof.
However, from examining CCTV footage from a camera 170 metres from the crash site, and the speed at which the car passed three poles, he was able to establish it came out of a 90 degree bend at 51km/h before accelerating to a speed of 75km/h on a road which had a 50km/h limit.
Garda Coughlan said he was able to establish that, for an unknown reason, the front left of the car mounted the kerb and then hit a low stone wall before rotating around and flipping over on its roof, which caused extensive damage.
Margaret O’Meara, a witness, told gardaí she was exiting from her home and saw a grey car passing the entrance, but she did not think it was moving at an excessive speed. Niall Burke, another witness, said he had not seen any car passing him at excessive speed while cycling.
The inquest heard there had been torrential rain around the time of the crash and Det Insp Declan Boland said Met Éireann had confirmed that between 4mm and 7mm fell that day in Clonmel, the bulk of it between 7.15pm and 7.45pm.
Noting that no trace of alcohol or drugs had been found in Mr McSweeney’s system at postmortem, the coroner returned a verdict of accidental death in all four cases. He noted that car hit a kerb for an unknown reason and hit the wall after torrential rain.
He extended his sympathies to the McSweeney, Coffey and Murphy families on their loss. He said he was reflecting the views of the wider community in Clonmel, Tipperary and beyond as the tragedy had struck a chord with many people.
“There are no words to describe the nature of the tragedy and loss that took place at Hillview on August 25th, 2023 for the McSweeney, Murphy and Coffey families – Luke, Grace, Nicole and Zoey were in the prime of their lives, with so much to look forward to and dreams to fulfil.”
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