The families of two young people who died after their BMW car crashed at high speed while being followed by a Garda patrol car have had the inquest into their deaths adjourned. The families say they intend to hire solicitors to challenge the Garda evidence.
A spokesperson for the families of Mairéad Boyle (19) and Shane Hoey (20), both from Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, told the coroner's court they did not believe the opinion of gardaí, based on CCTV footage, that the patrol car was seven seconds behind the BMW when it crashed, killing the pair at the Long Walk, Dundalk.
The coroner, Ronan Maguire, had asked for CCTV footage to be shown.
The garda who was driving the patrol car, Dominic Walsh, said he had been on mobile patrol in the early hours of May 2nd last year when he saw a car turn on to Park Street from the Demesne "at high speed".
"This car passed in front of the patrol car I was driving. I pulled out behind it. It was a silver, English-registered BMW.
"I engaged the blue lights with a view to stopping the driver and speaking to him about the manner of his driving," he said.
As it turned on to the Long Walk area of the town, he said, he could see two people in the front of the car. The passenger was wearing a seat belt but the driver was not, he said.
"The driver accelerated and drove away from us at speed."
By the time the Garda car had reached the Chestnut, a restaurant close to the start of the Long Walk, he said, the BMW had crashed some 150 yards ahead.
Time logs on the CCTV footage shown to the court indicated the BMW passed a shopping centre on the Long Walk just before 3am, some seven seconds before the patrol car passed the same camera.
Garda Walsh said that when he got to the scene, "there was considerable damage to the car. The passenger door was torn away and the body of the male driver was eight feet from the car. He did not have a pulse".
The family spokeswoman said they believed the video footage suggested "they [gardaí] were a lot nearer than at the Chestnut restaurant". They also believed that one slide of the footage shows the BMW "directly in front of the Garda car".
However, Det John Brady, who operated the footage at the court, said he believed the slide showed the blue lights on the patrol car and its own lights. "There is no shadow from the BMW and at that stage the accident had happened, in my opinion."
The families said they did not believe this and wanted the inquests adjourned so they could "investigate it further".
Mr Maguire said, "I think the best thing is to adjourn it . . . If you have a problem with the Garda investigation, you should direct it to another authority."
The families said they believed some witnesses were afraid to testify as they would be seen to be going "against the gardaí". They said the BMW was not examined.
The inquest was adjourned until next month.