A loving son’s poignant last words to his mammy
Pier tragedy boy, 8, phoned just minutes before his death
A BOY who drowned with four members of his family when their car plunged off a pier in Ireland told his mother on the phone minutes earlier he wanted to hug her.
Evan McGrotty, aged eight, died alongside his 12-year-old brother Mark, his father Sean, 46, grandmother Ruth Daniels, 57, and her 14-year-old daughter, Jodie Lee Daniels, when their SUV sank after sliding off a slipway in Buncrana, Co Donegal.
A priest at their funeral revealed the boy, who had muscular dystrophy, had been on the phone to his mother, Louise James, minutes before their deaths as they watched the sun set.
“Mammy, I miss you so much,” he told her. “I am going to give you the biggest, tightest hug you ever got, when I see you again.”
The only survivor of Sunday night’s accident in Lough Swilly was the couple’s four-month-old baby daughter, Rionaghac-Ann.
Ms James, who had been away for the weekend, said the baby is her only reason to go on living, having lost her partner, two sons, her mother and sister.
Mourners at the Holy Family Church, near the family home in the Ballymagroarty area of Londonderry, were asked to salute the bravery of former footballer Davitt Walsh who swam out into the harbour in an effort to save the six occupants of the Audi Q7.
Mr McGrotty handed his baby to Mr Walsh through the broken driver’s side window just moments before the vehicle sank.
Father Paddy O’Kane told the funeral service: “Davitt, today we salute you as our hero.”
The priest also revealed Ms James’s words to Mr Walsh and his girlfriend, Stephanie Knox, who stripped the infant and warmed her at the shore, when they met at the parochial house on Tuesday.
“Don’t blame yourself that you did not do more – we are so grateful for what you did,” the priest said Ms James told the couple.
Fr O’Kane revealed when the grieving mother gave Mr Walsh her baby to hold at the meeting, she opened her blue eyes, smiled up at him and gave a big yawn.
The priest also praised those who raised the alarm and the emergency services who did all they could.
Mourners heard the family suffered other losses with another of Ms James’s sons, Joshua, only living for 17 hours and Mr McGrotty’s younger sister, Ann, dying from cancer last July.
Investigations into the tragedy continue, with the pier shut to vehicles