Former Bus Driver Accused Of 'Odyssey of Destruction'

A former bus driver is standing trial accused of a destructive rampage which led to the death of a pensioner.

Peter Clarke, 38, is alleged to have taken the bus without the permission of his employer, before engaging in what the prosecution described as "an odyssey of destruction" leading to the death of 62 year-old Ms Marie Buckley.

Clarke faces 28 charges in total, including damaging up to 25 vehicles, some of them unmarked gardaí cars, in the Bluebell and Naas Road areas of Dublin, and threatening the gardaí who arrested him with a knife and an axe.

Clarke, of Kiltalown Court, Tallaght, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including manslaughter through dangerous driving, criminal damage and reckless endangerment.

Prosecuting counsel, Pauline Walley, said the accused was on the roster to drive another bus from Dualways Bus Company depot at Rathcoole but stole a 53-seater single decker coach and was spotted by his boss driving it around Heuston Station at about midday.

She told the court Mr Clarke drove the bus at his boss when he followed him into Heuston Station car park and tried to persuade him to return the vehicle.

She said the accused's boss continued to follow the bus and rang the gardaí when he saw him in the Citywest area a short time later.

Counsel further said Clarke had ploughed into traffic as he tried to escape gardaí. The dead woman had tried to escape her car as the bus approached but had become stuck, before the bus collided with the vehicle and dragged it for a distance before crashing into an embankment at the back of the bus depot.

(DW)