Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I didn’t know I was trying to sue pier tragedy family
Hero Davitt’s former girlfriend abused online over bid to claim compensation for her trauma
A WOMAN who saw five people die in the Buncrana Pier disaster has hit back at vile web trolls after she confirmed she’s suing for post-traumatic stress.
Stephanie Knox, whose then boyfriend Davitt Walsh tried to rescue Sean Mcgrotty and his family in March 2016, has been bombarded with abuse since it emerged she was claiming damages.
The 25-year-old insisted she only intended to seek damages from Donegal County Council and an insurance company.
Stephanie comforted victim Sean Mcgrotty’s four-monthold daughter Rioghnach Ann – the only survivor, after the infant was saved by Mirror Pride of Ireland winner Davitt.
Mr Mcgrotty, 49, drowned along with his sons Mark, 12, and Evan, eight, his wife Louise James’ 14-year-old sister Jodie- Lee Daniels and his wife’s mother Ruth Daniels, 59.
Ms Knox said she did not realise the claim she made was against the family of Mr Mcgrotty, whose Audi Q7 sank after it slid on an algae-covered slipway into Lough Swilly.
The cardiac physiologist took to Facebook to set the record straight, writing: “No wonder there is a high suicide rate in this country because the way people talk about other people without even knowing them or knowing the full story it would tip you over the edge if you’re in a very bad place already.
“Yes it has come out that I’m claiming for posttraumatic stress which I’ve been suffering from terribly and being treated for a few months after the accident and to this very day. I’ve talked to so many people but nothing helps to take away the guilt I’ve felt ever since that night because I didn’t do more which I will have to live with.
“I was told by the Garda that there was people claiming for the accident they never mentioned who but I later found out who. I never had one
thought or even notion to do this sort of thing or never even knew you could for that matter so that is why it’s coming out two years later because I wasn’t doing it from the start when others were.
“From my meeting with my solicitor I had mentioned to him other people were doing it and I was looking for advice and help in the matter.
“Then they carried out the investigation to see if I could claim.
“It had come back I could so I left it in the hands of them not knowing exactly who or what they were claiming against.
“I had just always thought it would have been the same
ON COMPENSATION CLAIM
as immediate family which was the council, because the pier that night was full of algae, or the insurance. Never in my life did I think it would be coming from the family and I was never told it was coming from them.
“I know a letter was sent to them recently but I have still not seen this letter to date.”
Mr Mcgrotty’s elderly father Noel, 86, said the estate had received a legal letter from Ms Knox seeking an undisclosed amount of money for loss of earnings and other matters.
The pensioner told Derry Now: “It was a private delivery and I had to sign for it. It was a big envelope full of legal documents – hard for the ordinary man in the street to understand.
“Then I saw the name Knox and realised it was from the girl that took the baby when she was brought out of the water that day.”