A deaf and dumb man has lost a High Court bid to stop his trial on charges of dangerous driving causing the death of two teenage girls in Co Wicklow.
Cyril Hobson (35), Kilmagig House, Avoca, Co Wicklow, is accused of dangerous driving causing the deaths of teenage friends Stephanie McCauley (15) and Vanessa Byrne (13), of Avoca, in a tractor accident in June 2003.
Mr Hobson was initially charged with careless driving. However, the case was reviewed by the DPP when the father of one of the girls took a private prosecution against Mr Hobson.
Following that review, the DPP decided to proceed with the more serious charge of dangerous driving causing death.
In judicial review proceedings, Mr Hobson challenged the decision to alter the charge and sought an order quashing the DPP's decision and prohibiting the trial.
In his reserved judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Michael Peart said that tragedy had struck the village of Avoca on a summer's day in June 2003 when the two local girls had died from injuries received while walking near the bridge. He said Mr Hobson was driving a tractor and trailer on which were 20 bales of silage. As he entered on to the bridge, the trailer had come into contact with the unfortunate girls who were strolling along the side of the road pushing their bicycles.
The judge said it was fair to say Mr Hobson has, since the tragedy, been the object of "some very hostile attention" which Mr Hobson believed was orchestrated by the family of one of the girls.
An added feature of the tragedy was that Mr Hobson was totally deaf as well as mute.
The principal thrust of Mr Hobson's challenge was that the DPP was not entitled to reverse his first decision - which was to prosecute Mr Hobson with the lesser offence of careless driving, the judge said.
However, after the first decision was made, the DPP had received from a garda "a significantly different and more extensive" report into the condition of the tractor and trailer which addressed issues regarding the driver's vision, the judge said.