Clonmel crash: Four young people were killed instantly when car skidded in heavy rain, inquest hears

Four young people, including three friends celebrating their Leaving Certificate results, were killed instantly when their car skidded on a hillside road in torrential rain and collided with a wall before ending up on its roof, an inquest in Tipperary has heard.

Leaving Certificate friends, Grace McSweeney (18), Zoey Coffey (18) and Nikki Murphy (18) and Grace’s older brother, Luke (24), all died from severe craniocerebral trauma when Luke’s car skidded in wet road conditions at Hillview, Mountain Road, Clonmel at 7.30pm on August 25th, 2023.

Luke and Grace McSweeney were from Mountain Road in Clonmel, Nikki Murphy was from Toor, Ballypatrick, Clonmel and Zoey Coffey was from Lake Drive, Kilsheelan. The three teenagers, who attended Presentation and Loreto Schools, had just received their Leaving Cert results.

On Thursday at South Tipperary Coroners Court sitting in Clonmel, Coroner Joseph Kelly heard that the two rear tyres on Mr McSweeney’s eight-year-old BMW 4 Series had tread depths below the legal limit of 1.6mm with the wires on the left rear tyre exposed.

Public service vehicle inspector Gda Eamon Raleigh said that having tyres below the legal tread depth was “a dangerous defect” as it affected a car’s grip and traction on a road surface when accelerating, braking and turning, particularly when a road surface was wet.

The braking and steering systems on the BMW were working properly before impact though the car’s NCT certificate was a year out of date, said Gda Raleigh.

Earlier, forensic crash investigator Gda John Coughlan said that it was impossible to establish the exact speed the car was travelling at when it mounted the kerb and struck a small wall at the entrance to the Hillview Sports Centre before spinning around and landing on its roof.

However, from examining CCTV footage from a camera 170 metres from the crash site and the speed at which the car passed three poles, he was able to establish it came out of a 90 degree bend at 51kph before accelerating to a speed of 75kph on the road which had a 50kph limit.

Gda Coughlan said that from examining the crash site, he was able to establish that for an unknown reason, the front left of the car mounted the kerb and then hit a low stone wall before rotating around and flipping over on its roof which caused extensive damage to the car.

Witness Margaret O’Meara told gardaí that she was exiting from her home when she saw a grey car pass the entrance, but she didn’t think it was driving at excessive speed and another witness, cyclist, Niall Burke said he had not seen any car passing him at excessive speed.

Witnesses reported that there had been torrential rain around the time of the crash and Det Insp Declan Boland said Met Éireann had confirmed between 4mm and 7mm fell that day in Clonmel with the bulk of that rain falling between 7.15pm and 7.45pm.

Noting that no trace of alcohol or drugs had been found in Mr McSweeney’s system at postmortem, Coroner Mr Kelly said returned a verdict of accidental death in all four cases, noting that car had hit the kerb for an unknown reason and hit the wall after torrential rain.

He extended his sympathies to the McSweeney, Coffey and Murphy families on their tragic loss and in doing so, he knew he was reflecting the views of the wider community in Clonmel, Tipperary and beyond as the tragedy had struck a chord with people all over the country.

“There are no words to describe the nature of the tragedy and loss that took place at Hillview on August 25th 2023 for the McSweeney, Murphy and Coffey families – Luke, Grace, Nicole and Zoey were in the prime of their lives, with so much to look forward to and dreams to fulfil.”