Court told man charged over fatal crash cannot remember it

A 32-year-old man who is charged with causing the deaths of a father and son in a car crash has no memory of the collision, a court has heard.

Peter and Loughlin Devlin died at the scene of the two-car collision outside the village of Killylea in County Armagh on 27 December.

Ivan Petrov, of Newry Road in Armagh, is charged with three offences including two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving.

Mr Petrov appeared in the dock before Newry Magistrates' Court on Friday with a cast on his left arm.

He spoke only to say he confirmed the charges.

A police constable told the court she could connect Mr Petrov to the charges.

The officer said police believed Mr Petrov was the driver of an Audi which moved on to the wrong side of the Killylea Road, leading to a head-on collision with a Mercedes.

When emergency services attended the scene, two men in the Mercedes were pronounced dead and a woman was taken to hospital, where she remains in a critical condition.

Two other passengers, a woman and a male child, were also injured and taken to hospital but have since been discharged.

The court heard Mr Petrov was treated at the scene for injuries including a fractured arm.

He was taken to hospital, where he remained until Thursday.

Mr Petrov's solicitor told the court that after he was discharged from hospital, he presented himself to Musgrave Police Station in Belfast.

The court heard Mr Petrov had no recollection of the crash.

When questioned by the defence solicitor, the police officer confirmed Mr Petrov said the last thing he remembered before the collision was stopping to eat a bar of chocolate because he was diabetic and felt his blood sugar levels were low.

The judge said he was satisfied Mr Petrov was the driver of the Audi and that he could properly connect him to the incident.

A bail application was made by the defence, which was refused by the judge.

Police objected to bail on the basis Mr Petrov was a potential flight risk.

The court heard he had links to the Republic of Ireland and also held a driving licence in Portugal.

The judge also said the defendant had multiple previous convictions for driving offences, including driving with no insurance, driving without a licence and not restraining a child, which resulted in driving bans in 2015 and 2018.

He said Mr Petrov had "a cavalier attitude to his driving responsibilities".

The defendant was remanded into custody to appear in court again on 21 January.