A young man and woman sustained fatal injuries when the stolen car in which they were travelling hit a lamp post, an inquest in Dublin heard yesterday.
John Kinlan (21), of Ballygall Parade, Finglas, and Amy Kinsella (18), of Annesley Close, Ballybough, both Dublin, died of multiple injuries when the black Honda Civic in which they were travelling crashed at Dublin's Annesley Bridge Road, Fairview, on the morning of May 20th, 2006, a double inquest at Dublin City Coroner's Court heard.
Mr Kinlan, who was the driver of the car, was pronounced dead at Beaumont Hospital that morning due to chest and abdominal injuries.
Ms Kinsella, a backseat passenger, died at the Mater hospital three days later from head injuries.
The crash occurred when Mr Kinlan, who was driving at high speed, collided with a Peugeot 206 before losing control of the car and crashing into a lamp post, a parking meter and a lamp standard on the edge of Fairview Park.
Mr Kinlan's sister, Maxine Kinlan, and his ex-girlfriend, Teresa Farrell, were also in the car at the time of the crash.
The inquest heard that Mr Kinlan, who was described as driving erratically, had a cocktail of drugs and some alcohol in his system at the time of his death.
The jury of three men and six women recorded unanimous verdicts of accidental death in the case of Ms Kinsella and of death by misadventure in the case of Mr Kinlan.
Gardaí were first made aware of a car driving erratically in the East Wall area of the city at about 7.20am on the morning of May 20th, the inquest heard.
Garda Domnick Noonan, who was in a patrol car, gave chase to the Civic, and told the inquest he was almost rammed on Griffith Avenue when he attempted to stop the driver.
He later observed the Civic crash into a traffic island and trees at the junction of Griffith Avenue and the Malahide Road.
Seconds later, the Civic caused a crash between a truck and a Toyota Camry when it broke a red light at the end of the Malahide Road, he told the court.
It was then that Garda Noonan decided to call off his pursuit of the Civic because he believed the situation was becoming too dangerous.
At 7.53am gardaí were alerted to another crash on Ballymun Road, in which a red Transit van driven by a man from Poland was forced to crash into a pedestrian crossing post when a Black Honda Civic car pulled up in front of him and slammed on its brakes.
The fatal crash occurred just minutes later at approximately 8am in Fairview.
Dublin city coroner Dr Brian Farrell expressed his condolences to both families on their tragic loss.