Mayo woman Aoife Connaughton, who currently works as a teacher in Dublin, was awarded €9000 in damages for her injuries following a ‘rear-end’ collision with a Garda vehicle.
The Garda vehicle crashed into the back of the 30-year-old teacher’s car at a COVID checkpoint in October 2020, after which she suffered back and neck pain.
She took a personal injury claim against An Garda Síochána and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
Ms Connaughton recalled the incident before Judge John Cheatle at Dublin District Court, saying she had slowed down coming onto the roundabout for the checkpoint.
“My head jolted forward, and I got such a fright”, she said.
The court was told by Ms Connaughton that the officer driving the Garda car came to her window and said, ‘sorry, it was my fault’, and claimed he was ‘in his own world’.
After giving a statement at Finglas station, she suffered back pain and went to a doctor who recommended physiotherapy. She returned to work a month later but could not carry out certain aspects of her role, and was sent home.
The Mayo teacher explained she was suffering pain, interrupted sleep, nightmares and headaches, but returned to work four weeks later.
Despite being a Gaelic footballer all her life, Ms Connaughton did not return to physical activity until the following June, and continued to experience physical issues.
Five physiotherapy sessions, seven doctor visits, and prescribed painkillers were all recorded for Ms Connaughton.
While being cross-examined, she admitted to doing 80-metre sprint training with her boyfriend six months after the collision, but defended her case, saying he was a footballer and personal trainer who was being supportive, and didn’t want her to ‘sit back’.
The Personal Injuries Assessment Board initially found there would be substantial recovery in six months, however, the defendants rebutted and argued for the award to be lower.
The judge noted that 13 months after the accident, Ms Connaughton’s doctor had recorded that she continually suffered upper and lower back pain, as well as pain radiating down her legs.
He concluded that a one-two year scale of records would be considered.
Ms Connaughton was awarded €7,000 general damages, €2,230 special damages, plus costs.
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