Woman admits careless driving following death of cattle

Kim Welsh (44), of Downey Bungalows in Ballynure, crashed at Moorfields Road near Ballymena at 7.30pm on June 22 last year.

At Ballymena Magistrates' Court, a prosecutor said police were tasked to a road traffic collision involving a vehicle and two cows.

She said police found a dead cow in the middle of the road and a short distance away the defendant's vehicle had been "completely crushed" at the front and also had a smashed windscreen. The bumper had been knocked off.

Another "badly injured" cow was at the side of the road.

The prosecutor said it had been bright and dry and a farmer "indicated he had been crossing the cows into the adjacent field".

As he was "walking across" he heard a vehicle approach but didn't hear it make "any attempt to slow down".

The man had then moved onto a grass verge and the vehicle struck the cattle and "both cows had died as a result of the collision".

The prosecutor said the defendant told police "the sun was shining and she came round the corner and slammed on the brakes but it was too late".

In court, the defendant said she "came on them (the cattle) all of a sudden".

She said there was a "slight wee dip" where the cattle were. She said she was driving a car she was unfamiliar with and she "just didn't react quick enough".

The defendant told the court the people at the scene were "very kind to me" and had brought her into a house after the collision.

In answer to a question from District Judge Nigel Broderick asking if anyone had been "waving at you to slow down to warn you that there were animals crossing the road," the defendant said there was no indication of that.

The defendant was given six penalty points and fined £200.