Former female flight attendant, who was injured in an aircraft accident, has no memory of causing three-vehicle crash in Craigavon, court hears
A woman, who worked as cabin crew and suffered injuries as a result of an aircraft accident, claimed she had no memory of a three-vehicle crash she caused, a court hears.
The 57-year-old appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court on Wednesday accused of dangerous driving.
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However that charge against Anita McGookin, from Governors Gate, Hillsborough, was dismissed with the defendant pleading guilty to a lesser charge of careless driving on December 23, 2023 on the Northway, Craigavon.
The defendant’s barrister Ms Ciara O’Neill said McGookin is her client’s previous married name and her surname should be Collins.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan outlined a precis of the facts. “It was a winter’s evening. There’s a collision involving the defendant’s vehicle striking another vehicle. That vehicle then collides with another vehicle and certain people are injured albeit not to a very significant nature.”
Ms O’Neill described it as a “very unfortunate accident”. “It really can’t be explained because unfortunately this lady has no memory of it,” she said, adding her client suffered a “brain bleed” due to the collision.
She added that Collins is permitted to return to driving if certain conditions are met however she hasn’t driven since the incident.
"It had a really profound impact on her. It was a terrifying experience,” said Ms O’Neill, adding Collins had surrendered her licence to the DVA following the crash.
The barrister said Collins is keen to return to driving, wishing to visit her parents more often in Portadown.
Ms O’Neill said her client had a clean driving licence from the age of 19 apart from penalty points for speeding 14 years ago which were not live at the time of this incident. She may have to undergo a medical to get her licence back.
The barrister said Collins worked as cabin crew for 20 years but had to leave that job due to health issues. “She was involved in an aircraft accident some time ago and she’d had physical problems since then.”
District Judge Ranaghan said Collins had taken a “responsible” attitude to her driving situation since the crash by surrendering her licence. He said he would not interfere with her ability to drive.
"It’s one of those accidents that’s very hard to explain,” he said giving Collins six penalty points, a £250 fine plus £15 Offender Levy.