A woman motorist who ran over a man lying in the middle of the road at night told a special sitting of Cookstown Magistrates' Court yesterday she drove home thinking it was a black plastic bag she had struck.
Mrs Hilda Susan Martin (40), a mother of three, of Lough bracken Road, Pomeroy, Co Tyrone, was fined a total of £150 and banned from driving for a year for failing to stop and failing to report the accident.
Mr Peter Martin Donnelly (23) was killed in the accident on St Patrick's night last year.
Mrs Martin was given an absolute discharge on a further charge of driving without due care and attention. Bail was fixed for the purpose of an appeal and she was granted permission to drive pending the hearing of the appeal.
The court heard the accident was on a narrow unlit country road near Mrs Martin's home on the outskirts of Pomeroy.