Someone yelled 'floor it', witness tells court

A witness has today described to a jury how he saw his late friend dragged under a limousine and been pinned against the back wheel.

The trial heard from another witness, who was inside the car, that someone yelled “floor it” when the deceased and his friend approached the car and climbed up on it.

Dara O’Sullivan (aged 21) has pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Liam Stafford (aged 28) at Clonard Lawns, Sandyford in the early hours of November 8, 2009.

He also pleaded not guilty to two charges of not having a valid license and one charge of no insurance.

The court heard Garda Ciaran Jones, who was killed this week assisting motorists during the flooding, was one of the first on the scene.

Mr Eanna Mulloy SC, defending, extended his sympathies to the other investigating gardaí in the case.

Mr Stafford was coming back from a night out with his friends, Andrew Nolan and James Clarke, when the incident happened.

Mr Nolan told prosecuting counsel, Mr Garnet Orange BL, that the deceased and Mr Clarke were skipping along ahead of him, arm in arm, when Mr Clarke broke away and climbed up on the parked limousine.

He said Mr Clarke then climbed on the roof and Mr Stafford followed him. He said Mr Stafford had his knee on the bonnet when the car “tore off”. He said he was holding onto the bonnet until “he couldn’t hold on any longer” and was dragged under.

The witness said his friend went all the way from the front of the car to the back where his head was “pinned against the wheel”. He said the car doors opened and four people got out.

When asked how fast the car accelerated, Mr Nolan replied: “Foot to the floor, straight up the road, like a rocket.”

Mr Nolan told Mr Mulloy that he had seen the car several times before, “speeding around” but that he did not know the people in it. He agreed that he failed to mention this to gardaí when making a statement.

Sean Murphy was in the car at the time of the incident. He told Mr Orange that when they saw someone approaching the car someone ordered that they lock the doors.

He said someone else in the car said “floor it” before Mr O’Sullivan accelerated forward. He said he only remembers one person being on the bonnet.

He said Mr O’Sullivan was in a panic afterwards and kept saying “Oh f**k, oh f**k”.

Mr Murphy told Mr Mulloy that he did not get out of the car before this because he didn’t know the car would be moving.

The trial continues before Judge Patricia Ryan and a jury of six men and six women