'Beer, steer and go': Man maimed brother in 195km/h 'missile' car crash after reunion

Tom Tuite

A young man maimed his brother in a horrific crash after speeding "like a missile" through a Midlands village.

Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court heard that Gerard Duffy McAndrew (23) had been using cannabis and filming himself drinking wine while driving earlier that night. Across the video clip were the words: "Beer, steer and go".

Just 18 months beforehand, he had been united with his brother Stephen Murphy (29), who had been adopted.

Duffy McAndrew, of Rathcorbally, Monilea, Westmeath, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious injury and having no insurance for the car he was using at the time of a collision in Rathowen, Westmeath, during the early hours of March 23rd last year.

Murphy, who was flung from his brother's Audi, suffered "catastrophic injuries" and lost his left leg.

During an emotionally charged hearing on Friday, defence senior counsel Colm Smyth likened the events to a Shakespearean tragedy.

Judge Keenan Johnson described it as an instance "of bad things happening to good people" and a "tragedy of gigantic proportions for all involved".

CCTV

However, having viewed CCTV footage, he also said it was a miracle no one was killed, and he regarded it as one of the worst examples of dangerous driving he had seen.

Referring to the video evidence, he commented: "Looking at that car, it was like a missile."

He adjourned sentencing for Duffy McAndrew, who has no prior convictions, to allow a probation report to be prepared and sentencing in May.

Garda Sergeant Alan Brehon told Cathal Ó Braonáin BL, instructed by the State solicitor for Westmeath, Matt Shaw, that the accused crashed at high speed into two trees in the village at about 2.30am, and lost control of his car.

It continued for another 135 metres before coming to a halt.

Murphy, who was asleep in the passenger side, was flung through the windscreen after his seatbelt snapped. He landed on the other side of the street in agony, bleeding heavily and had a bone sticking out of his leg. He lost four litres of blood and suffered a punctured lung, a dislocated hip and chest damage.

Based on video evidence, gardaí estimated the accused was reaching speeds of 163 km/h a few minutes beforehand in nearby Ballinalack, where the speed limit is 50km/h.

Another motorist reported that, as he was driving on the N4 at 100km/h, Duffy McAndrew's car passed out him on the hard shoulder.

Minutes later, when he crashed in Rathowen, his speedometer "froze" at 195km/h. It was also a 50km/h zone.

There was debris all over the street. The engine came away from the car as it hurled through the village after hitting trees.

Its battery was projected and embedded into the engine of a local woman's parked car, which was written off.

Tiles on two-storey houses were damaged by debris from Duffy McAndrew's car.

At one point, it rotated, and the video evidence showed a trail of sparks as it careered along the village street.

Apprentice block-layer and stoneworker, Duffy McAndrew, was slumped unconscious in the driver's seat but had a faint pulse and had to be cut out of his car.

He was over the legal drink-drive limit.

The brothers were rushed by ambulance to Tullamore hospital and were both in comas, but the driver came out of his coma and was found to have a fractured shoulder.

His brother's condition remained severe, and he was transferred to the Mater Hospital, where the amputation was carried out 10 days later.

His right ankle also remains damaged and may have to be replaced, the court heard.

Murphy spent four and a half months in hospital and is now back at work on his farm, but still requires assistance. Judge Johnson praised his resilience.

Duffy McAndrew's phone was analysed, and a video clip from that night was played during the hearing.

It showed his brother asleep in the car while he was driving with no hands. The camera also switches to selfie mode, showing him drinking from a bottle of wine.

No NCT

The court heard that the accused was not insured for the car and that it had no NCT. It emerged that he drove it because the household's main car was unavailable and he wanted to visit his brother, who had just gone through a break-up.

They went to Portrunney in Roscommon, but Duffy McAndrew told the court he had no memory of what happened after that.

Visibly upset, he told the court that he learned about his brother about 18 months before the collision.

He was "over the moon" when he made contact because he had always wanted a brother, and they just "clicked".

He apologised and thanked the emergency workers and Rathowen residents who helped after the crash.

Due to legal advice, with his case pending, he had not been in contact with his brother recently.

Duffy McAndrew spoke about constantly feeling guilty.

He said he would do everything he could to assist his brother, who did not attend the hearing or provide a victim impact statement. The court head visited him in the early stages of his recovery.

Sergeant Brehon said that the victim had no memory of the crash or the previous month.

Duffy McAndrew could not explain what occurred and acknowledged his "stupidity" had put others at risk.

He maintained that he did not normally use cannabis and that he hardly drank before this. Since then, he spends most of his spare time fishing or going on long walks with his dog.

Their mother wept in court and told the judge that it had broken her heart, and she loved both her sons, as she pleaded with the judge not to jail the accused.

Duffy McAndrew's employer vouched for his hardworking nature and good character, saying he was the best apprentice he had ever had, and other testimonial letters were handed in to the court.