Kentstown Bus Trial Collapses

Wishbone Ash

The Kentstown bus tradgedy trial has collapsed. It came to the attention of the judge that one of the jurors had attended one of the victim's funeral.

Chris_533976

You'd think the juror would have had the common sense to think "Hey I went to the funeral, I wont be able to be on a jury". Idiot. That means the families will have to think abot the tragedy for a bit longer while all the red tape goes though to get this rubbish fixed.

Wishbone Ash

Chris_533976 wrote:

You'd think the juror would have had the common sense to think "Hey I went to the funeral, I wont be able to be on a jury". Idiot. That means the families will have to think abot the tragedy for a bit longer while all the red tape goes though to get this rubbish fixed.

Yes, usually the judge addresses the jury and reminds them of their responsibilities and specifically asks if anyone has any interest or connection with the case (it's even done beforehand anyway when selecting the jury).

Stephen P

That juror is an idiot. God help the poor families!!

killbillvol2

According to the RTE News earlier the juror had been asked about it last Friday and denied it! His/her employer wouldn't let it drop and followed it up again.

A month inside for contempt of court might teach the idiot a lesson.

BrianD

Did the judge not state that this trial was totally separate from the incident that resulted in the 5 deaths and that the jurors could not consider this fact when considering the evidence and reaching a conclusion? As the entire community was deeply shocked by the tragedy is likely that many people would have attended or would like to have attended the funerals 9given the average Irish persons fascination with death and going to funerals). Therefore is it that relevant that the juror attended the funeral?

Having said that, when asked twice he should have stated the truth.

Snivilian

Sounds to me like the juror was lying to his employer to get time off

godtabh

Snivilian wrote:

Sounds to me like the juror was lying to his employer to get time off

It sounded like that to me too and the employer want gona let it drop as he was taking a lot of time off work

Bradidup

It would have made more sense to elect a jury from out of the county, IE Dublin for such a serious case.

Seth Brundle

kearnsr wrote:

It sounded like that to me too and the employer want gona let it drop as he was taking a lot of time off work

I agree with this!

Bradidup wrote:

It would have made more sense to elect a jury from out of the county, IE Dublin for such a serious case.

The next trial will be up in the [FONT=Verdana, Arial]Dublin Central Criminal Court [/FONT]so locality shouldn't be as much of an issue.

D'Peoples Voice

Last sunday April 1st, I was driving along the belgard road,
well all of a sudden a bus (number 76, reg 98 D 20399) that had been parked at a bus stop pulled out in front of me with no indication.
Anyway a few mins down the road, I coped that his neither his brake light nor his indicator light were working on the right hand side, (the indicator light on the side of the bus was though.)
Why do garage operatives allow buses like this on the main road. It's an accident waiting to happen!

Seth Brundle

You are assuming that the two bulbs were faulty when the bus was last examined. For all you know they may have just blown.

Victor

Can you make a report?

Admittedly modern buses are fitted with multiple LEDs in one light fitting, much reducing the risk of failure.

Rovi

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

...neither his brake light nor his indicator light were working on the right hand side, (the indicator light on the side of the bus was though.)

Sound more like a faulty earth than simultaneous failure of multiple bulbs, or possibly an issue with a connector block somewhere in the wiring loom or at the back of the lamp unit.
It's the sort of thing that can happen to any vehicle at any time, but I'd hope that it'd be noticed and fixed the next time it's back at the depot.
The driver might or might not know of the failure, though I'd like to think that there'd be some sort of dashboard warning system or even the old fashioned 'fast clicking' flasher relay to let them know there's something amiss.

killbillvol2

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Last sunday April 1st, I was driving along the belgard road,
well all of a sudden a bus (number 76, reg 98 D 20399) that had been parked at a bus stop pulled out in front of me with no indication.
Anyway a few mins down the road, I coped that his neither his brake light nor his indicator light were working on the right hand side, (the indicator light on the side of the bus was though.)
Why do garage operatives allow buses like this on the main road. It's an accident waiting to happen!

Did you make any attempt to tell the driver? Or did you just post here so he'd see it?

D'Peoples Voice

killbillvol2 wrote:

Did you make any attempt to tell the driver? Or did you just post here so he'd see it?

Why tell the driver, just what was he going to do about it stuck on the middle of the belgard road?
Ask everybody to dismount the bus while he waits to be towed back to the depot?
The fact is, the bus should not be allowed to leave the depot when it is a danger to other road users. Who is responsible for ensuring a vehicle is road worthy, well we will only know that when there is a serious accident and the case goes to court!

KC61

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Why tell the driver, just what was he going to do about it stuck on the middle of the belgard road?
Ask everybody to dismount the bus while he waits to be towed back to the depot?
The fact is, the bus should not be allowed to leave the depot when it is a danger to other road users. Who is responsible for ensuring a vehicle is road worthy, well we will only know that when there is a serious accident and the case goes to court!

Indeed it should not have left the depot in such a condition, but how is the driver to be aware of it as he cannot see either the front or rear indicators? At least if you told him as you boarded he could either radio for a change of bus or inform the depot that he was going to bring the bus back to depot at the end of the trip.

As other posters have said, maybe the earth/bulbs became faulty after the bus left the depot, but how would the driver know unless someone told him?

Very occasionally I've noticed a front bulb not functioning, and out of sheer courtesy I'd tell the driver on boarding.

Victor

I think D'Peoples Voice was driving, making it slightly less practical to tell the driver.