A jury in the inquest into 69-year-old Dorothy McCarry of Kildarragh, Dunfanaghy returned a unanimous verdict of death due to injuries sustained in a road traffic accident.
A recent sitting of Letterkenny Coroners Court heard that Mrs McCarry passed away three weeks after she was a passenger in a car which crashed in Termon on June 9 last year.
Mr Charles McConnell said that at approximately 2pm he was loading a barrow with bricks at Barnes Upper in Termon when he saw a car veering across the road and then heard a bang.
"It was not sliding, it just went slowly across the road." There was no other traffic on the road. He then saw it on the wrong side of the road stuck between a pole and a tree. He immediately went to the car.
He knew the driver, Neil McCarry and his wife Dorothy who was in the passenger seat. He freed the passenger's seat belt and stated that the driver kept saying "get Dorothy out". He could not get the passenger out as the door was jammed by the pole
Garda Thomas McNulty, Milford Garda Station, said he saw at the scene a blue Toyota Avensis badly damaged at the front. It was facing towards Creeslough on the incorrect side of the road and there were two occupants in the car.
Garda Conor McDonagh said he saw the McCarry's car embedded in a tree. The weather conditions were "good and dry", and when he spoke with Mr McCarry he was unable to recall events leading up to the accident. Outlining the location, Garda McDonagh explained it was straight stretch of road and would not have influenced the driving of the vehicle.
Sergeant McDaid, who is trained in carrying out technical examinations on vehicles involved in accidents, said that the car was in good working order and it was a "mystery" as to how the accident happened because there were no marks on the road and the damage to the car did not reflect the involvement of speed. He added also that the impact with the tree had not been "that severe".
Mr Neil McCarry said he had attended two clinics in Letterkenny and he and his wife then went to Alcorn's garden centre before deciding to go home to Dunfanaghy. They stopped in Kilmacrennan to buy potatoes and he recalled seeing the long straight stretch of road just past Sweeney's filling station in Termon. He does not remember anything else until he heard a bang. Mr McCarry added also that he has been on medication for a number of years but has been always able to drive.
Dorothy McCarry died on July 1, three weeks after she was admitted to hospital following the accident.
Consultant Pathologist at Letterkenny General Hospital, Dr Barry explained that he performed a post mortem on Dorothy McCarry on the 3rd July. She had had extensive exploratory surgery following the accident to determine if there was any damage to her internal organs. He concluded, however, that death was due to respiratory and renal failure and complicated injuries sustained during a road accident.
Coroner Mr John Cannon directed members of the jury to find their verdict in accordance with medical evidence.
"It seems unusual in a sense that the impact did not seem to have registered with the unfortunate deceased. It must have been a shock to her system in general and it was this shock which led to her eventual cause of death."
Expressing his sympathy to the family and friends of the deceased, he commented: "It is unfortunate that it had to happen in these circumstances. It is difficult to put the pieces together."
