A woman, who sustained serious injuries when run over by a car while on Dublin´s popular Dollymount Beach, has been awarded 79,000 Euros in respect of her beach injury compensation claim by a High Court judge in Dublin.
Siofra O´Loughlin (24) from Rolestown in Dublin had been playing on the extensive Dollymount Beach with friends in July 2006, when she slipped on the wet sand and fell. As Siofra lay face down in the sand, a car reversed back and over her – causing abrasions to her back and breaking the humerus bone in her arm. After briefly stopping a short distance away, the driver of the car left the scene without acknowledging the accident.
At the High Court in Dublin, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill heard that both an ambulance and the police attended the scene, but the driver responsible for Siofra´s injuries was never traced. After undergoing surgery for her arm when the broken bone failed to heal properly, Siofra made a beach injury compensation claim against the Motor Insurers´ Bureau of Ireland – the body responsible for paying accident injury compensation to the victims of injury for which an uninsured or untraceable driver is liable.
The Motor Insurers´ Bureau of Ireland contested the beach injury compensation claim – alleging that Siofra had given an alternate version of events to police when they first arrived at the scene of the accident. However, having heard Siofra´s testimony and that of her friends, Mr Justice O´Neill judged that Siofra had been an accurate and honest witness and awarded her 79,000 Euros in compensation and the costs of pursuing her beach injury compensation claim.