A COUNTY Limerick man who claimed he was knocked down by a taxi may face criminal charges for exaggerating evidence.
Padraig Lynch (24) from Pound Street, Ballingarry claimed he was knocked unconscious after he was hit by a taxi on O’Connell Avenue in Limerick city during the early hours of January 29, 2012.
He said he didn’t remember anything else after the accident and was adamant he looked left and right before crossing the road. He had come in to Limerick after drinking cider with friends earlier that night.
Taxi driver Martin Downey from Galvone Road, said he was returning to the city at around 1.30 am after delivering a fare to Wolfe Tone Street and that Mr Lynch’s version of events was “lies”.
“I went to turn right on to O’Connell Avenue and another taxi had swerved to avoid something. Mr Lynch was in the centre line of road with his hand in the air.
“I stopped my car and he ran at me. He jumped on to the bonnet of the car and the windscreen broke and he went on to the ground.
“He started shouting ‘My knee, my knee’ and complaining of the pain”.
Mr Downey said he immediately phoned Gardaà and emergency services.
Counsel for Mr Lynch, Emmett O’Brien said that the taxi driver’s evidence was “fanciful” and that there was no Garda prosecution brought against Padraig Lynch for any wrongdoing, given that Mr Downey had described an act of criminal damage and breaches of public order”.
Another taxi driver who witnessed the incident said that he recalled Lynch running out on to the road near the Project School.
“I swerved to avoid him and I looked back and he had jumped up on to the other car. He was running at the car with his right arm up. He jumped up on the car and he brought his right hand down on to the windscreen.
Less than 15 minutes earlier, Mr Lynch had “jumped on to my car and brought his hand down on to the windscreen – he had a phone in his hand – but my wiper hit him in the arm.
“He jumped off and was hoping around and saying ‘my knee, my knee’ and that he wanted an ambulance.
“I rolled down the window and asked him if he wanted an ambulance but I said that I would be calling the Gardaà first. He moved off then”.
When the second taxi driver was asked if he was claiming that Lynch was committing perjury, he told the court “Mr Lynch wasn’t knocked down, he jumped on the bonnet”.
Rejecting the claim, Judge Eugene O’Kelly said that Mr Downey had given a completely contradictory version of events and he had the “benefit of sobriety” as well as an independent witness who gave a similar account.
He was not satisfied that Lynch had “proven his case” and awarded legal costs in favour of Mr Downey.
Lynch, who appealed the case to the High Court, was told by Mr Justice Colm MacEochaidh that it was the court’s finding that he gave the trial “false and exaggerated evidence regarding what had occurred.”
Subsequently, Mr Justice MacEochaidh ordered that the digital audio recording and relevant papers be sent to the DPP.
