Woman (87) pleads guilty to careless driving causing the death of mother of five

A woman (87) accidently put her foot on the accelerator rather than the brake while pulling into a parking space and ended up mounting a footpath and fatally injuring a mother of five, a court has heard.

Agnes Foley (87) of Farran, Charleville, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of Mary Fehilly (72) from Holy Cross Place, Charleville, and careless driving causing serious bodily harm to John Collins (68) at Main Street, Charleville, on November 2nd, 2024.

The court heard she had been driving for 60 years without blemish.

Garda Christopher Gleeson of Charleville Garda station told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that Foley was driving into Charleville in her Mazda with her daughter for lunch and was slowing down to pull into the parking space on Main Street.

She accidentally put her foot on the accelerator rather than the brake and her car mounted the footpath, hitting Mary Fehilly, and John Collins. The car rolled back off the footpath after the collision.

Fehilly suffered serious injuries.

She was brought by air ambulance to Cork University Hospital, where she died later that night, the court heard

Gleeson told the hearing that State Pathologist Dr Yvonne McCarthy carried out a postmortem and found that Mary Fehilly had died from haemorrhage and shock secondary to multiple traumatic injuries due to a motor vehicle collision.

He said Collins had suffered a fractured pelvis and serious injuries to his left leg.

Garda Helen O’Callaghan read a victim impact statement written by Siobhán Fehilly on behalf of her father George, siblings Nollaig, Pádraig, Maeve and Gearóid, and herself, in which she told how the loss of their “beautiful, caring, vibrant mother” had devastated them.

Describing her mother as “the heart of family”, Siobhán Fehilly said “Mam and Dad were married 49 years. They were so looking forward to 50th wedding anniversary but they never got to see it. They were the love of each other’s lives.”

“We will never forget seeing our beautiful mother lying on the footpath in Charleville town. She knew she was badly injured and she said to us: ‘I’m going to die’. We had to bring Dad to see her on the footpath in case it was the last time he would see her alive.”

In his victim impact statement, which was read by Gleeson, Collins told how his life now revolved around medical and hospital appointments and how, despite 40 physiotherapy sessions and four lymphatic draining sessions, doctors had told him he would have to live with reduced mobility.

Pleading for leniency, defence counsel Marjorie Farrelly pointed out Foley, a widow, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, had been driving without incident for 60 years, had no indication of any impairment before the crash and had given up driving following the incident.

She said Foley had co-operated with gardaí from the outset and admitted her mistake and written a letter of apology to both families in which she expressed her remorse. “I feel so guilty,” she wrote. “Nothing will ever erase it from my mind. That day will always be a nightmare.”

Farrelly stressed the accidental nature of what happened. “This was a momentary lapse which she cannot explain but one which had devastating consequences – it was an extraordinary event with extraordinary consequences, but she has never shied away from her responsibility.”

Judge Helen Boyle extended her sympathies to the Fehilly family on their loss and to Collins on his injuries.

She adjourned sentencing until November 4th.