There were harrowing testimonies yesterday as the inquest opened into the deaths of five members of a Derry family who drowned when their vehicle slid into the water at Buncrana Pier.
Sean McGrotty, 48, his sons, Mark, 12, and Evan, 8, along with the boys' grandmother, Ruth Daniels, 58, and their aunt, Jodie-Lee, 14, died on March 20, 2016. The sole survivor of the accident was Mr McGrotty’s baby daughter, Rioghnach-Ann, who was only four-months-old.
A pre-inquest hearing in September heard that first responders at the scene of the tragedy had been unable to open the doors of the family's jeep.
Yesterday, the inquest into their deaths began in The Lake of Shadows Hotel in Buncrana, with Coroner Denis McCauley presiding.
Francis Crawford and his wife Kay Crawford were first on the scene. They both said that the jeep had already began slipping into the water when they arrived and that the water was already up to five inches up the wheels of the car.
The couple said they watched the distressing scene unfold over a matter of minutes until the car submerged with the five victims inside.
Mr Crawford gave evidence to say that they had arrived at Buncrana Pier shortly after 7pm that evening and had seen the Audi jeep that Mr McGrotty was driving parked parallel to the slipway.
Mr Crawford said he believes they got there at about eight or nine minutes past the hour.
He said that he noticed the black Audi jeep parked parallel on the slipway and that water was already up over the wheels of the vehicle. He said that the driver’s window was towards himself and his wife. He noted there were four or five other cars nearby, but no one was around.
Mr Crawford said to his wife: “Kay, there’s something badly wrong.”
At this point, Mr Crawford called out to Mr McGrotty to ask if he was OK and he replied, ‘Please, call the coastguard’.
Panic and shouting
He said, at this point, he did not know how many others were in the jeep but he could hear shouting coming from inside. Mr McGrotty got out of the car and shouted repeatedly in a ‘panicked voice’ for the couple to phone the coastguard.
Mr Crawford called the coastguard at 7.12pm and told them there was ‘a tragedy about to happen’. He suggested that maybe the Buncrana lifeboat would be the quickest responder. He said Mr McGrotty was still shouting and that he tried to reassure him that help was on the way.
Mr Crawford said he could hear children ‘squealing, roaring and crying’ jut before another car arrived. He said a man and woman, who he later found out was Davitt Walsh and then girlfriend, Stephanie Knox, got out of the car.
Mr Crawford asked Mr Walsh if he could swim. Mr Walsh began taking off his clothes and stripped down to his boxer shorts before swimming out to the car. At this point, Mr Crawford said the car was bobbing on the water about ten to 15 yards away and was moving off to the right, seaward.
He watched as Mr Walsh swam to the car and said that he was hoping the car wouldn’t go under and that the emergency services would make it in time.
Mr Crawford estimated from he called the coastguard until the jeep went down, it may have been around 12 minutes in total.
Keith O’Grady, legal representative for the McGrotty family, asked Mr Crawford if there had ever been any similar incidents at Buncrana Pier.
He replied that there had been about ten occasions when people had gotten into difficulty slipping in off the slipway and that they had been single men who had managed to get out but he added if a stranger did not know the area, they would not have been familiar with how dangerous the algae can be.
Kay Crawford said Mr McGrotty repeatedly asked them to phone the coastguard and she could hear the children were upset inside the vehicle.
She also gave an account of Mr Walsh saving the baby. She said she knew the baby was OK because she was ‘conscious and breathing and wasn’t crying’. Mrs Crawford said that although the baby’s clothes were wet, her head was dry.
She said that the jeep went under the water ‘seconds before the Gardaí arrived’ and that she pointed out where the jeep had sank and also witnessed three heads in the water. She estimated that it was around 15 minutes from she and her husband arrived at the slipway until the vehicle sank. She also said the algae was ‘very, very slippery’ and ‘thick’.
Mrs Crawford also said the gate at the top of the slipway was locked in an open position and there were only signs warning people not to swim within 15m of the pier.
Emotional evidence
Davitt Walsh, who saved the only survivor, baby Rioghnach-Ann, became emotional while giving his evidence.
He told the inquest that he had been driving his girlfriend back home to Derry after having played football for Fanad United against Letterkenny Rovers earlier that day then going for dinner.
He said that he had decided to go down to Buncrana Pier ‘for a look’. He had driven to the slipway and noticed there was no one else there and there was green algae about eight foot above the water line. He said: “I stayed away because I know how slippery that stuff is.”
Mr Walsh then drove around the pier and pointed his vehicle to drive back off the pier.
He said he believed it may have been around 6.40pm but he wasn’t sure. He said he and Ms Knox parked up for about five minutes and he said there were other vehicle there but there were no people.
He said that when they went to leave the area, they passed the slipway and Ms Knox said to him: “Davitt, go down quick.”
He said he saw a black seven-seater about 20m off the end of the slipway, bobbing in the water.
Mr Walsh said that Ms Knox said to him, ‘Go and do something’ and he stripped to his boxers and got into the water.
Mr Walsh said that he saw Mr McGrotty smash the driver’s car window, which was about three-quarters way up, with considerable strength. He circled in the water outside the car then Mr McGrotty passed the baby out of the car. Mr McGrotty was sitting on the ledge of the car window with his feet inside the car, his head and shoulders outside and his hands on the roof and a young boy tried to climb out past his father.
He became tearful as he recounted how he had to let go the boy’s hand: “I reached in and tried to grab him out but he seemed stuck.”
Last words: 'Save my baby'
Mr Walsh said Mr McGrotty said something to his family in the car but then the car tilted with his weight and started to take on water slowly at first before it began gushing in. He said Mr McGrotty was ‘looking around for more help but there was no help’.
He said: “I was trying to keep the baby’s head above water and I was just trying to pull the wee boy out but the car gushed in and the car went.”
He added that Mr McGrotty’s last words to him were, ‘Save my baby’, before the car went under.
Mr Walsh said he was exhausted by the time he got back to shore as the car had been swept out further and he was swimming against the tide with the baby. He returned by swimming backstroke to keep the child’s head above water.
He said he could ‘could hardly breathe’ and ‘collapsed on the algae’ before handing baby Rioghnach-Ann to Ms Knox. He said the algae was so slippery that she also fell to her knees so he jammed his foot against the concrete to help her get the baby out of the water and used ‘the last bit of energy left in [his] body’.
As Mr Walsh was asked to describe how he attempted to save the boy, he said tearfully: “I don’t want to disrespect the family and I know it’s very difficult.”
He said he had tried everything he could to save young Evan with his baby sister but that the car submerged.
He said tearfully: “I grabbed his hand when all the water rushed in. I had his hand.
“That was the last thing I saw, the young lad, and I had to let go because I was struggling as hard as I could.”
Mr Walsh was praised by the coroner and all the legal representatives for his bravery on the day.
Written statement
Louise James, who lost her partner, two young sons, her mother and her sister in the tragedy, was called to the stand before the inquest broke for lunch.
Coroner Denis McCauley said it was a ‘perverse and awful thing’ to have to have her present at the inquest into the death of her loved ones but that the person who identified the bodies must attend. He apologised and extended his condolences.
Ms James evidence was read into court and she was not subjected to any further questioning.
In her statement she said she had been away on a hen weekend and had been in constant contact with her family right up until 17 minutes before the car had gone into the water.
She had been on the phone to her sister, Jodie-Lee, who told her that they were in the play park by Buncrana shore.
She had also spoken to her boys, Mark and Evan, and told them she was coming home and would see them later that night.
The family had gone to the play park by Buncrana’s shorefront after having dinner nearby and were due to collect Ms James later.
She said: ‘I don’t know why but I got feeling that something was wrong at 7.25pm.’
Ms James then rang her brother, Nathan, to ask if her mother had come back home and he told her she hadn’t returned.
She tried to ring her partner, Sean and young sister, Jodie-Lee, but there was no answer to their phones.
She then rang her brother, Josh, who asked her if she had seen anything on social media. He then told her that he had heard that a car went into the water at Buncrana. However, he said it was a car not a jeep and that he heard it was two men involved.
Ms James was about to board her flight and told her brother, Josh, to hurry and ring her back as she was boarding. However, she boarded the flight and switched her phone off and only got the call when she arrived in Belfast.
Ms James said her brother broke the news that they had identified her partner’s body and that they were ‘all gone but Rioghnach was OK’.
Post mortem
Pathologist, Dr Catriona Dillon, who performed the post mortem on Mr McGrotty revealed that he had been over three times over the drink drive limit when the tragedy occurred.
She said that he had also exhibited injuries consistent with breaking glass on his arm.
Dr Dillon said that a toxicology test on Mr McGrotty’s blood had registered a level of 159mg and that the drink drive limit is 50mg. A level of 222mg in urine was registered.
She also said there was a ‘sub-therapeutic level of Diazepam’ in his system but that this was ‘not significant’.
When pressed by Michael Staines, the legal representative of Donegal County Council, about how this level of intoxication would have affected Mr McGrotty, Dr Dillon replied: “I can’t say what his level of impairment would be, it would depend on things like whether he was a habitual drinker, if he was accustomed to drinking.
“There are so many factors I can’t say for certain the effect it would have had on him. Each person is different.”
There was further evidence from members of the Gardaí and Donegal County Council, examining the practices around pier cleaning and safety.
The inquest continues, and the remainder of the evidence is expected to be heard today.
If you have a story or want to send a photo or video to us please contact the Derry Now editorial team on 028 7129 6600 for Derry City stories Or 028 7774 3970 for County Derry stories. Or you can email gareth@derrynews.net at any time.