A motorcyclist out for a Sunday spin in Oldcastle with two friends has told an inquest that they met a larger group of other motorcyclists riding erratically towards them with his front wheel up in the air.
Another witness told the inquest that as he lay seriously injured at the scene a man had come forward and videoed him without his permission.
The inquest conducted by Coroner for Co Meath Nathaniel Lacy enquired into the deaths of Mark Eager (41, Stoney Road, Oldcastle and Stuart O'Connell aged 37 of Loughcrew View, Oldcastle who died in a three-motorcycle collision at Bellaney, Oldcastle on 28th July 2024.
Kevin McGeoy (59) of Crieve, Killoe, Longford told the inquest that he and his friends Paul Mulligan of Toneymore, Abbeylara and Thomas Donlon of Lamagh, Newtownforbes went for a spin to Loughcrew neolithic tomb.
While they were travelling back they met a group of about 15 motorcycles moving very fast with some of them two abreast and with one of them doing a wheelie. He said he felt genuinely scared because of it.
Mr Donlon said he remembered a bang and woke up in a ditch with his right hand badly broken and his right foot hanging by just skin. He also said that when he woke up he saw a man in a black biker suit standing over him taking a video of him.
When the man confirmed to him that he was taking a video Mr Donlon said he said to him "You b******, if I could get out of this ditch you wouldn't take any more video of me". Among other serious injuries he had lost his right leg below the knee, Mr Donlon said.
Garda Brendan O'Shea told the inquest that when he spoke to Mr Mulligan at the scene he informed him that two men on a yellow motorbike had come over onto the wrong side of the road and hit Thomas first and then hit him. The Garda said both deceased had been on the yellow bike which he noted had no registration plates.
Garda Maurice Mahon, a forensic scene investigator told the inquest that Mr Mulligan had a dashcam on his bike and that it showed Stuart O'Connell's bike traversing over onto the other side of the carriageway and first making collision with Mr Donlon's motorcycle and then Mr Mulligan's.
Consultant pathologist Professor Muna Sabah who carried out post mortems on the deceased said they had both suffered multiple injuries. She said a toxicology report on Mr O'Connell's body showed that he had a blood/alcohol level of 123 per cent along with a small amount of cocaine while a toxicology report on Mr Eager had shown a blood/alcohol level of 170 per cent.
The coroner returned a verdict in both cases that they had died of multiple injuries consistent with a road accident.
