Delivery driver accused of killing pensioner claims he had unwittingly drank fizzy orange laced with vodka

John Taggart, 35, is charged with causing the death of 70-year-old Paul Marshall by careless driving while more than two times over the legal alcohol limit.

His van mounted a traffic island and struck the pedestrian at the city centre Millfield junction shortly after 5pm on September 2 last year, according to prosecutors.

Emergency services removed Mr Marshall from underneath the vehicle and took him to be treated for “catastrophic” injuries, but he died in hospital a week later.

Taggart, of Seaview Drive in Belfast, faces a further count of driving with excess alcohol in connection with the collision.

During interviews the defendant said he had been drinking throughout the day before the accident which occurred as he swerved to avoid a car and hit the pedestrian.

Taggart was initially granted court bail under conditions which included an alcohol ban and prohibition on travelling in the front seat of any motor vehicles.

He allegedly breached those terms on January 29 by being in a parked car and drinking cans of beer.

A Crown lawyer claimed police also have CCTV footage of Taggart driving the vehicle earlier that day.

Opposing his bid to be released again from custody, she said: “We are concerned about the potential danger to the public if he continues to drive under the influence.”

Defence counsel Sean O’Hare stressed that his client has repeatedly expressed condolences to the victim’s family.

But Madam Justice McBride replied that any remorse felt by Taggart appeared to be undermined by allegedly defying the prohibitions imposed on him.

The court heard he lost his job with a pharmaceutical company following the road traffic collision, but then found new employment in a factory. He made an “incredibly foolish” decision to drive to work after someone borrowed the bicycle he normally used.

“He was sitting in a car park after finishing work to collect his thoughts, and by an unhappy coincidence there were two tins of strong beer in the vehicle which he consumed at a park bench,” Mr O’Hare submitted. “The only explanation he can give is the circumstances that were pressing on him at the time.”

The barrister also claimed new information could provide mitigation for the circumstances surrounding the fatal accident. He said Taggart spent the day sipping from a bottle of fizzy orange taken from his home as he made deliveries to pharmacies in the Coleraine and Belfast areas.

“It then transpired that the bottle had been laced with vodka as his partner’s carry-out from the weekend,” Mr O’Hare contended. “Whether it was because of the strength and quality of the vodka, he instructed that he had no way of knowing and didn’t realise he had in fact been consuming alcohol.

“If his story is right, it is a complete tragedy all round, because he was driving the vehicle with alcohol being consumed throughout the course of the day.”

Taggart was granted bail again under strict orders to abide by the alcohol and driving bans and surrender the keys to his car.

The judge further directed: “He is to make an appointment with his GP to seek assistance with dealing with stress other than by drinking.”