Misadventure verdict returned on death of Donegal businessman - Donegal Daily

A Donegal businessman who was killed in a road traffic collision in 2022 died by misadventure, an inquest has found.Seamus Rogers lost his life in a road traffi...

A Donegal businessman who was killed in a road traffic collision in 2022 died by misadventure, an inquest has found.

Seamus Rogers lost his life in a road traffic collision just before 8am on October 14, 2022 on the R245 at Devlinreagh, Carrigart.

The 41-year-old Mr Rogers, late of Gortnabrade, Carrigart, was the proprietor of SR Auto Parts in Milford and he was also the skipper of some fishing trawlers.

An inquest into his death was heard by Donegal Coroner Dr Denis McCauley at Letterkenny courthouse and heard that Mr Rogers was more than twice the drink-drive limit when his Maserati GranTurismo collided with a tree on the morning in question.

A forensic collision investigator told the inquest that speed was “a likely contributing factor” to the crash.

A deposition from another motorist was read into the inquest. The man said he was driving a black Hyundai jeep and recalled seeing a car coming from the Gortnabrade Road.

He remembered that there was very heavy rain and he had his wipers on full. “It wasn’t dark but it wasn’t fully bright either,” he said.

He heard a vehicle passing and noted that the visibility was “poor.” As the car overtook his jeep, he said it “came in very close in front of me on my front driver’s side. The car came in sideways ahead of me.”

When he saw the front headlight of the car he knew “something wasn’t right”.

He remembered that the tail of the car was heading in the same direction as he was and “somehow” the driver got the car corrected. However, it immediately spun.

This all happened “in just a couple of seconds”, the witness’ deposition said. He added that he saw the car colliding with a tree and he put his hazard lights on and made a 999 call.

Garda Liam O’Riordan told the inquest how he received a report of a single-vehicle collision at Devlinreagh. He remembered that the road surface was “very wet” and visibility was “poor”.

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Garda O’Riordan knew the driver to be Mr Rogers and couldn’t find a pulse. The Fire Brigade and ambulance arrived just after 8.20am.

Dr John Lannon from Carrigart Medical Centre attended the scene and pronounced Mr Rogers deceased at 8.50am.

Noting the post-mortem results, Dr McCauley said that Mr Rogers would have died instantly as he suffered "significant injuries".

Dr McCauley said that a toxicology report showed that the alcohol level in Mr Rogers’ system was 133 micrograms of alcohol per 100 mililitres of blood, where the legal drink-driving limit is 50mg/100ml. He added that the urinary alcohol reading was “slightly higher”.

Sergeant Hugh McCann, a Garda forensic collision investigator, told how he examined the scene. He said the speed limit on the road in question was 80km/h and the collision occurred when the Maserati car lost control, colliding with a hedgerow before connecting with a tree.

Mr Rogers was wearing a seatbelt and Sergeant McCann said that while there was insufficient evidence to determine the actual speed, the severe damage to the vehicle would indicate that speed was “a likely contributing factor”.

He said conditions were “poor” and there was a lot of standing water on the road surface which may also have contributed.

The car was roadworthy and there were no defects detected that could have contributed to or caused the collision. Sergeant McCann confirmed to Dr McCauley that there were “no marks left on the road to examine” and there was no evidence found of any contact between the two vehicles.

Dr McCauley said it was very clear that Mr Rogers died of multiple injuries as a result of a road traffic collision.

He said that perhaps some actions of Mr Rogers increased the risk of a collision happening and he returned a verdict of misadventure.

The Coroner described the incident as a “very tragic event” and condolences were conveyed to family members who were present.