Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Pier mum’s agony
Mum’s anger and pain at family loss Rescued baby is ‘one ray of sunshine’ Slipway ‘should have been closed’
THE woman who lost five members of her family in the Buncrana pier tragedy last night told of her “pain, disbelief and anger”.
Louise James – whose partner Sean Mcgrotty, sons Mark and Evan, mother Ruth Daniels and sister Jodie Lee Tracey died – gave an emotional statement after verdicts of misadventure were delivered at the inquest.
Speaking through her solicitor, she said: “My heart is shattered.
“Every moment of every day is filled with thoughts of my beautiful boys, Mark and Evan, my mother Ruth, my sister Jodie Lee and my partner Sean.
“The one ray of sunshine in my life is my beautiful daughter Rioghnachann who survived this horrible tragedy. Once again I’d like to thank Davitt Walsh and all those others who helped to save her on that day.
“I truly believe the slipway should have been closed to the general public or else proper warning signs displayed as it was an accident waiting to happen.
“Hopefully lessons will be learned and recommendations made will be implemented.
“Finally regarding Sean. Notwithstanding the evidence that has emerged, he was a wonderful partner to me and an adoring father to his children.
EVIDENCE
“He lived for them and it is clear from what this inquiry has learned that in fact he died as he lived as he could have saved himself but chose not to.”
Ms James added there are “simply no words to express my pain, my disbelief and indeed my anger about what happened on that fateful day”.
She spoke out after two days of evidence into the tragedy. The inquest heard how the family drowned when their Audi Q7 slid down a pier in Buncrana, Co Donegal, into Lough Swilly on March 20 last year.
Yesterday the jury recorded a finding of misadventure in the death of Mr Mcgrotty – who it was revealed on Wednesday was three times over the drink-drive limit.
The five men and four women stated he died by drowning.
A jury foreman also read out a recommendation that all “interested parties” work with the Irish Water Safety group to “implement best practice” at slipways throughout Ireland.
Inspector David Murphy offered “sincere condolences” to Ms James as well as to her family and that of Mr Mcgrotty.
He praised all those members of the emergency services who rushed to the scene, adding his own officers performed their duties despite being “confronted with an unspeakable tragedy unfolding before them”.
The Garda officer added that Mr Davitt Walsh, who swam out to the car and rescued four-month-old Rioghnach-ann, was “an ordinary man who did an extraordinary thing”.
Donegal Coroner Dr Denis Mccauley also offered his sympathies, saying the families concerned had suffered an “unimaginable” loss.
Earlier in the function room at the Lake Of Shadows hotel in Buncrana, he told the jury they had two options – a finding of accidental death or one of misadventure.
Summarising the evidence, Dr Mccauley said they needed to consider issues including the fact there was “access to the slipway”, Mr Mcgrotty’s “decision to drive onto” the slipway, “what condition Sean was in”, the “evidence of algae”, the open gate, the lack of signage regarding the slippery surface and the doors not opening when the car was submerged.
The coroner told the jury they could also make recommendations, such as for improved signs at piers, public safety campaigns or the fitting of cars with hammer-like devices that can be used to smash windows in an emergency.
Verdicts were later reached on the deaths of Ruth, 59,
Jodie Lee, 14, Mark, 12, and eight-year-old Evan. Having listened to evidence particular to each, the jury delivered verdicts of misadventure and death by drowning for all four.
They had heard RNLI volunteer John O’raw describe how he dived down to the sunken Audi but was unable to open either the driver’s or passengers’ side doors. However, he was able to see into the front of the vehicle and establish no one was there.
Visibility was only around “arm’s length” and he used a diver’s torch to inspect the vehicle. He said he could not see inside the rest of it. Mr O’raw, who was on the scene within minutes of the tragedy unfolding but had to return home to get snorkeling equipment, entered the water off Buncrana pier at 7.55pm.
He told how the car was submerged in around three metres of water and that two other volunteers with him were able to stand waist deep on its roof. The vehicle’s tailgate was open.
Mr O’raw said he found the driver’s window was smashed but that instead of being shattered the glass was “broken inwards and shaped like a bowl” in a “concave” shape, “clearly fractured but intact” which he found to be unusual. He added he did not enter the car at that point as it would have been “too dangerous”.
Under cross-examination the diver