Bus driver involved in fatal crash has licence restored
Coach became airborne
A BUS driver who was jailed for three years for killing a motorist will have his licence restored from January, despite objections from the victim’s partner.
Sorin Dinu, 51, had been banned from driving for 10 years in 2012 after crashing a Bus Éireann coach into a roundabout, sending it airborne and slamming into a jeep driven by Cathal O’Leary, 37.
Mr O’Leary was killed instantly after the undercarriage of the bus smashed into the top of his Toyota Land Cruiser. The bus continued on and crashed through a fence into a field, before coming to a halt 48 metres away.
Mr O’Leary’s partner, Elizabeth Finn, who had been in the jeep at the time of the crash, told the court they had plans to start a family before his death.
She and the O’Leary family still miss him and grieve his loss every day, the court heard.
She said she objected to the early restoration of Mr Dinu’s licence to protect other road users.
She didn’t hear any viable explanation at the trial as to why Mr Dinu crashed, and she said there was no reason to believe he would not do it again.
Mr Dinu, who is originally from Romania and was living in Blanchardstown, Dublin, pleaded guilty midway through his trial six years ago to dangerous driving causing the death of Mr O’Leary at Johnstown, Enfield, Co. Meath on February 23, 2009.
The trial had heard that a Bus Éireann Expressway bus driven by Mr Dinu was approaching a roundabout on the old Dublin to Galway road just before 6.30am.
It veered onto the wrong side of the road, collided with the raised island in the centre of the roundabout, became airborne and its rear undercarriage struck the top of Mr O’Leary’s Land Cruiser.
Mr Dinu told gardaí the brakes failed as he approached the roundabout.
A subsequent inspection found the vehicle was in good mechanical order and the brakes were working properly.
The engine management system and the cruise control in the bus were also undamaged.
A forensic examination of the scene found no sign of brake marks on the road.
The defendant’s guilty plea came after the trial judge ruled against a defence application of ‘automatism’, which would have allowed the defence argue that the driver had not been in control of his actions.
A hearing on the driver’s application to have his licence restored heard an objection from the victim’s partner.
Mr Dinu told a resumed hearing that since his release from prison he had graduated with an accountancy degree and now worked as a fund accountant, but needed his licence to help his wife bring his daughter to a special-needs school as the girl suffered from a condition which meant that – among other things – she was unable to travel by public transport.
He also expressed his remorse for Mr O’Leary’s death and added that he would have to ‘live with what happened for the rest of his life’.
His licence was due to be returned to him in 2022, 10 years after his conviction.
Judge Patrick Quinn said that despite the objection from Ms Finn it would be punitive on the Dinu family not to grant the application.
The judge granted the restoration of the licence from January 2019 on condition Mr Dinu provide proof of completing a satisfactory driver rehabilitation course.
‘Grieving his loss every day’