Health Trust manager was on phone when she caused death of motorcyclist by pulling out in front of him

Newry Crown Court also heard that Matthew Arnold was just 24-years-old, had been married for 18 months and had just become a father three weeks before the fatal collision which claimed his life.

As his grieving family sat in the public gallery, prosecuting counsel Fiona O’Kane highlighted how they “remain devastated by the loss of a young man who was a loving father, husband, son and brother and have had succour from the faith they have to carry them through this very difficult time.”

Defence counsel Steven Molloy told the court that for McAlister, “she has spent her life in the NHS trying to save lives and she recognises fully that solely by her actions, this man has lost his life.”

“This doesn’t rest easy with her in any shape or fashion,” said the barrister, “every waking day she thinks of the act that has robbed him of his life and she wishes to profess her profound apologies to the Arnold family - she’s deeply, deeply, deeply sorry for her actions on that day.”

McAlister, from the Ballykilbeg Road in Downpatrick, had earlier entered a guilty plea to causing the death of Mr Arnold on 7 April 2020 by driving carelessly on the Lurgan Road in Dromore.

Opening the facts of the case for the first time today, Mrs O’Kane outlined how the fatal accident occurred at the junction of the Lurgan Road and the Blackskull Road when the Toyota Avensis being driving by the defendant pulled out from a junction into the path of the oncoming Ducati motorbike being driven by Mr Arnold.

The 24-year-old was thrown from the bike, coming to rest on the grass verge and despite an off-duty GP and other members of the pubic coming to his immediate aid, he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

Mrs O’Kane told the court that head injuries was established as the cause of death and the “catastrophic injury” was such that Mr Arnold was “likely to have sustained rapid death and never regained consciousness.”

McAlister was arrested at the scene and her dash cam footage formed part of the case against her. It established the 53-year-old had slowed down to two or three miles per hour as she approached the give way junction and she told police she had saw the Ducati coming up the road so believing she had enough time, had pulled out.

As she did so however, she looked to her right again and the motorbike was closer than she expected and she then “felt a shunt,” her airbag deployed and her car came to a stop.

While neither McAlister nor Mr Arnold were found to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time, the police investigation established the defendant had been using her mobile phone in the lead up to the fatal impact.

The time of the collision was at 18.17 and Mrs O’Kane told the court there was evidence that McAlister had been on a phone call for 56 seconds having received a call at 18.15, “entirely contemporaneously with the collision, we say.”

“She was either immediately on the phone or just ending her phonecall,” said the Crown barrister.

There was also evidence, the court heard, that Mr Arnold had been speeding and although an expert forensic engineer could not put forward a more accurate assessment than between 64-91 MPH in the lead up to the point of impact, using footage from a nearby haulage yard the Ducati was seen at 70 mph.

During police interviews three weeks later, McAlister told police how she is the assistant director of old peoples services in the Southern Health Trust and the phone call was from a colleague as she was trying to organise PPE for trust care homes and district nurses.

She explained that while she had been using the phone, she had been expecting the call so had “wedged” her phone into the dashboard and when her colleague called, she swiped to answer before opening the speaker function and putting her hand back on the wheel as fast as possible.

McAlister conceded that having seen the Ducati, she decided to pull out and when she looked again “I didn’t expect him to be there.”

Lodging a plea in mitigation, Mr Molloy highlighted that at the time the country was in the first lockdown of the covid pandemic and that as part of her role, McAlister was “managing a range of care homes.”

Having tried to contact a colleague she put the phone in the dash as she expected them to call back and then began to drive but Judge Gordon Kerr KC said while he accepted that entirely, “in one sense it reinforces the fact that she was preparing deliberately, in advance, to deal with a business matter at a time when she was driving and unfortunately, it came when she had to do a difficult manoeuvre.”

Mr Molloy conceded that “there’s no getting away from the fact that is a major aggravating factor” and further agreed that put the case into a category where, according to sentencing guidelines, the court could impose either a community based disposal or a short prison sentence.

Indicating that he had not yet made his made up abut the appropriate sentence Judge Kerr asked whether, given her job and her family circumstances, McAlister would be in a position to undertake an enhanced combination order as a “direct alternative” to prison?

“I think given the alternative, it would have to be fitted in,” Mr Molloy told him, “if she was offered that she would be more than willing to do that.”

Freeing McAlister on bail until an unspecified day next week, Judge Kerr said he wanted to consider all of the materials put before him before giving his ruling.