A woman who was killed when criminal and disqualified driver Dean Coleman crashed his car in Dublin in the early hours of Tuesday while trying to evade gardaí has been named locally as Annemarie Hooper.
The 33-year-old mother of two, from Tallaght, was known to Coleman, a 25-year-old from Drimnagh, who had previously been banned from driving for eight years. He was still serving that ban when he crashed the Fiat Stilo, in which Ms Hooper was a passenger, in Rathfarnham at about 1.30am on Tuesday.
He and Ms Hooper were fatally injured when the car left the road and hit a lamppost on Butterfield Avenue. Shortly before the crash, gardaí in an unmarked car had gestured to Coleman to pull over near Rathfarnham shopping centre, but he drove away at speed and crashed soon afterwards.
Gardaí in Tallaght station are investigating the crash and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) has started its own investigation. Gsoc is legally obliged to begin inquiries into any incident that results in a member of the public being injured or killed at or around the time they were in contact with Garda members.
Third tragedy
Ms Hooper's death is the third tragedy to affect her family in recent years. Her former partner died just over three years ago. Her 12-year-old nephew, Kyle Finnegan Hooper, died in September of last year when he suffered a major asthma attack and collapsed at a relative's house.
Coleman had previously crashed a car while being pursued by members of the Garda. In December 2013 he led gardaí on a chase in Dublin and crashed into several parked vehicles before hitting a lamppost and wall.
He attempted to flee on foot after that incident and left his one-year-old child in the vehicle. He was jailed the following year for four years as a consequence.
He had 27 previous convictions at the time, including five for dangerous driving. He was on bail at the time for making threats to kill or seriously harm.
