Jamie ‘was the love of our lives,’ inquest told

Jamie Doherty, Terryrone, Moville, died on June 8, 2018 after the car he was driving, a black Renault Clio, hit a ditch and flipped over on a ‘bog road’ at Tullyally, Redcastle.

The inquest was presided over by Coronor Dr Denis McCauley, who heard Inishowen cases in Letterkenny Courthouse due to Covid 19 social distancing requirements.

Jamie’s mother Evelyn, who found him following the collision, told how, on the day, she took her two other sons swimming at the Redcastle Hotel. Jamie did not want to go, so went to his granny Bridie’s house in Clar, Moville.

She stayed at the hotel until around 5.20pm and then went to her mother’s house, where she was told Jamie had gone to his girlfriend’s house in the car at around 4.55pm.

Ms Doherty said she wasn’t happy about this and sent Jamie a message telling him she was ready to go home. The inquest heard how Jamie was not allowed to drive on the public road. Ms Doherty said that when she did not hear back from Jamie, she knew something was wrong as he ‘never disobeyed’ her.

Ms Doherty’s father went to Jamie’s girlfriend’s house to get him, but returned and confirmed he wasn’t there. They also rang a man Jamie regularly visited, but he confirmed he hadn’t seen him all day.

Ms Doherty went to look for Jamie and after a while, drove up a road with ‘no surface’ at Tullyally. She said, as she was driving on the road, she asked herself: ‘What would Jamie be doing up here?’

She saw a car ahead and it ‘took a while to register’ that its underside was facing her. Ms Doherty saw Jamie’s legs lying under the car and ran up to him, calling his name ‘over and over.’ She told the inquest that when she got close to her son, she knew he was gone and ‘touched his arm and cried.’

She told how her ‘best friend was lying’ under the car and she asked God why this could happen. She said she didn’t know what she was going to say to Jamie’s father, Shane or her two other sons.

She rang 999, having to go further down the road to get coverage, and was asked if she could do ‘mouth to mouth’ resuscitation on Jamie. She told the operator there was ‘no point’ as his injuries were too serious.

Ms Doherty found a hi-viz vest on the road and covered Jamie with it as she knew he wouldn’t want to be seen the way he was. The ambulance and family members then arrived on the scene.

Ms Doherty said Jamie was their oldest son and the ‘love of their lives.’ They could ‘rely on him for anything’ and he doted on his two wee brothers.

Retired Garda Seamus Lyons told the inquest he was called to the scene and saw the car, which was on its side, was ‘extensively damaged.’ He described the road the car was found on as a ‘bog road’ and ‘if you’d a good car you’d never use it.’

A pathologist’s report confirmed Jamie’s cause of death was due to severe head injury consistent with involvement in a road traffic collision.

A Garda forensic examination found the car hit a ditch before flipping over at sometime between 4.55pm and 6pm. The car was in a good serviceable condition and neither it nor the weather were contributory factors in the collision.

The condition of the road, speed and driver error and inexperience were contributing factors.

Dr McCauley said the collision was a ‘terrible accident’ and concluded a finding of misadventure, although he said this was no judgement on Jamie.

He added that Jamie was obviously adored by his family and was a ‘lovely lad.’ He added that it ‘wasn’t that he was car mad, he just took a chance and there was a terrible, dreadful accident.’