Son ‘paid for road situation with his life’
Karl McAuley 17 from Ballinascreen Co-Derry who was killed in a car crash close to his home on Saturday. McLaughlin collect
AN inquest into the death of a Co Londonderry teenager has heard conflicting evidence surrounding the circumstances of the fatal crash which claimed his life.
Karl McAuley, 17, from Strawmore Road, Draperstown, died after his Seat Leon car left the Tobermore Road outside Draperstown on December 1, 2007.
The popular teenager – a talented member of the St Colms Ballinascreen hurling team – was one of six people killed on Northern Ireland’s roads on that weekend alone.
His distraught father Danny broke down in court yesterday as he recalled rushing to the scene of the crash just a few miles from the family home.
“I knew he was dead,” he said.
Mr McAuley said speeding would have been “totally out of character” for his son, and also stressed that Karl had been “very familiar” with that stretch of road.
The father said he believed that something had caused his son to swerve the car, causing the crash.
“I felt something had spooked Karl. I believe that my son dealt with a situation and he paid with his life.”
The victim’s mother Rosaleen – who was the last person to speak to Karl – told the court she had offered to cook him a fry but he declined saying he was travelling to Ballymena to go shopping.
“Karl was just himself, he was happy, he loved the weekend, and he was full of wit,” she said.
Much of the evidence presented by witnesses to the inquest at Magherafelt courthouse focused on a Land Rover and trailer and a lorry, which are believed to have been parked on the lane on which Karl McAuley had been travelling.
Hugh McGeown, from Magherafelt, who had been travelling behind the teenager, witnessed the crash.
He said the teenager had not been driving fast and that he had been forced to pull out around a white lorry and a Land Rover parked on his lane of the road.
Mr McGeown said he also remembered a figure in a “trench coat” step out from behind the lorry, in front of the teenager’s car, moments before the vehicle swerved and crashed.
He said he saw the car mount a ditch before striking two trees and flipping over a hedge.
Mr McGeown also revealed that he had suffered nightmares about the crash and was unable to speak to anyone – including his wife – about what he had witnessed for several weeks.
Michael Quinn, a farmer who had been working with Hubert Murray – the owner of the parked Land Rover – told the court that he had been helping Mr Murray round up sheep.
Under questioning from coroner Brian Sherrard and the McAuley family’s barrister Eugene Grant QC, Mr Quinn said he “had never seen any other vehicle” parked on the road at the time of the accident.
Mr Quinn said the lorry arrived at the scene after the accident had happened, driven by Mr Murray’s son Seamus.
A local GP – Dr Michael Logan – who was tasked to the scene, pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Results of a post-mortem revealed that the teenager had suffered serious head injuries, which would have resulted in an instant death.
The inquest was adjourned and is expected to resume tomorrow.
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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