Retired boxer awarded €29k for Garda who crashed into him after breaking red light
A retired boxer, said to have suffered multiple rib fractures in the ring, has been awarded €29,000 damages against the gardai who crashed into him after the State-owned car had broken a red light.
Judge John Martin said he accepted Derek McGee must have been hit at 'some speed and force' for the Garda vehicle to have written off his commercial Range Rover.
Barrister Conor Kearney, who appeared with Chris Horrigan of Blake Horrigan solicitors for Mr McGee, told Judge Martin that liability had been accepted by the State Claims Agency and the court was being asked to assess compensation for his client.
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McGee, (40) of Landen road, Ballyfermot, Dublin, said that on 9th December 2022, he had been driving at Temple Street, West Dublin, when he had been struck by a garda car that had been driving along the Luas line and had struck his vehicle after having passed through a red light.
He said he had the benefit of a green light at the time and his Range Rover, which had been struck on the driver's side, had afterwards been assessed and had been considered no longer roadworthy following the crash. All airbags had deployed in the accident.
Mr McGee said he had suffered injuries to his back and neck and, in cross-examination by counsel for the Ministers for Justice and Finance and the Commissioner of An Garda Siochana, denied that a lot of his pain had arisen from multiple fractures to his ribs which he admitted he had suffered while boxing.
Judge Martin said the court accepted Mr McGee had been involved in a heavy accident and had suffered pain in his neck and back, some of which persisted and which were entirely consistent with the incident.
'Mr McGee was not in the best of financial positions and I accept he could not afford physiotherapy and the cost of being in and out of doctors' clinics,' Judge Martin said.
The judge said that in line with official guidelines for compensation he considered an award of €20,000 as appropriate for Mr McGee's back injury which he uplifted by €9,000 for the injury to his neck. He awarded Mr McGee his legal costs against the defendants.
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