Dublin mum who ‘fractured finger’ in alleged car crash has €60k injury claim struck out

Barrister Shane English told Judge Terence O’Sullivan in the Circuit Civil Court that there had been gardaí “all over the place” in May 2017 while the British royal couple were resident in the park during a visit that took in Dublin, Kilkenny, Thomastown and the Curragh.

Patricia Hill, counsel for mother-of-two, Aurelia Nosaci, of The Gallen Apartments, Granitefield Manor, Rochestown Avenue, Co Dublin, asked that her case be struck out, with an order for District Court costs, following a dispute as to whether her car had been struck at all in an alleged rear-ending at Whites Road, Phoenix Park.

Judge O’Sullivan, following claim and counter claim over contact or otherwise between the two vehicles, gave the legal parties several minutes to discuss matters outside the court room.

He was told Ms Nosaci, who claimed she had been “in pain all over my body” immediately after the incident and suffered a fractured finger, had settled the case which could be struck out on payment of district court costs for her legal team.

Ms Nosaci (54), and formerly of Manorfields Road, Clonee, Dublin, wiped away tears as she stepped down from the witness box in court and afterwards outside the Four Courts, sobbed into her handkerchief. She had claimed she had been treated in hospital and by her GP after the accident.

Judge O’Sullivan said a fractured finger was not a typical injury suffered in such accidents.

Following an outline of issues in the case, Judge O’Sullivan said the court would initially decide whether there had been actual contact between the vehicles involved and invited the parties to have talks prior to the court reaching any decision on the matter.

Mr English, who appeared with Helene Coffey of Crowley Millar Solicitors, said the defendant Cian O’Donovan, of Somerton, Castleknock, Dublin, and Garda Sergeant Seamus P Leonard, who investigated the incident, would tell the court there had been no contact between the vehicles.

Garda Sergeant Seamus P Leonard, Lucan, who was on duties surrounding the visit of the now King Charles and his Queen Consort and who investigated the incident, had stated in a garda report there had been no visible damage to either car.

Judge O’Sullivan struck out Ms Nosaci’s claim and, on the invitation of both legal teams, made an order covering her legal team’s costs at District Court level.