An inquest into the death of a 14-year-old boy, who was driving a car being pursued by a garda van in Killarney in Co Kerry, has returned a verdict of accidental death.

Thomas Healy, of the Gap of Dunloe, died in the crash five years ago.

His best friend, Alfie Barrett, who was 15 at the time, was severely injured.

Alfie told the inquest that Thomas had panicked after the van, with its blue lights flashing, had pursued them on Ross Road.

The last thing that he recalled was the vehicle behind them and its lights shining into the car.

Alfie said they had been trying to calm each other down.

Thomas “was a bit panicked … nervous and shaking,” he said.

However, the driver of the van, Garda Seán O’Sullivan, said he had lost sight of the car as it rounded a bend and sped away from him.

He had expected to come across the car parked and abandoned, he said, but instead found it crashed into a tree.

Alfie was “mistaken” in thinking the vehicle was behind them at the time of the crash, Gda O’Sullivan added.

Fiosrú, then the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), launched an investigation and, in 2022, cleared Gda O’Sullivan of any responsibility, it was confirmed.

CCTV footage was shown to the jury.

The inquest heard how, shortly before midnight on 7 July 2021, Thomas Healy picked up Alfie Barrett and the pair drove to the Tesco car park in Killarney.

The two had been texting each other. They had not been wearing seat belts.

The car was only used on the family farm in the Gap of Dunloe.

Gda O’Sullivan explained how, at around 1.05am, he was approaching Park Road roundabout and observed an old Toyota Corolla.

The front-seat passenger was looking back regularly at the garda van and the digits on the registration plate appeared deliberately obscured.

There was no other car on the road, he said. The vehicle travelled on to East Avenue Road and towards Muckross Road.

Gda O’Sullivan activated the blue flashing light and the Corolla took off at speed through Muckross Road roundabout.

“It sped away from me down Ross Road,” he said.

He followed and thought it may have turned into one of the housing estates in the area.

The speed was not excessive, but the garda van would be more slow moving than the car, and the vehicle was trying to get away, Gda O’Sullivan said.

Evidence from forensic investigators heard how its National Car Test (NCT) certificate had expired in 2018 and almost 11,000km had been added since the test.

The vehicle was roadworthy. It was in good mechanical order, its brakes and steering were good, but its tyres were old, the inquest heard.

Death caused by road crash injuries – pathologist

“A mechanical defect did not cause the collision,” Garda Thomas Brosnan, a public service vehicle inspector, said.

A forensic vehicle inspector, Sergeant Mark O’Connor, said that it was wet at the time but the road surface was good.

There was no street lighting, he added, the lights of the car were probably off, and there was no evidence of braking.

The driver failed to negotiate the bend, mounted the footpath and hit the tree.

Thomas Healy was pronounced dead at the scene.

State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster said the cause of death was due to injuries in a road crash.

The Healy family’s solicitor, Dan O’Connor, told the jury that it had heard conflicting evidence.

He said these were young men and a member of An Garda Síochána was in pursuit “to some degree”.

However, Coroner Aisling Quilter objected when he attempted to address the verdicts the jury might consider.

She said that misadventure, accidental, narrative or open verdicts were their options.

After retiring, the jurors returned a unanimous verdict of accidental death.