Inquest told fatal-crash car taken without leave

A CAR belonging to a senior council official in Co Donegal was taken without his permission by a lodger before it was involved…

A CAR belonging to a senior council official in Co Donegal was taken without his permission by a lodger before it was involved in a horrific crash killing five, an inquest heard yesterday.

The 1994-registered maroon-coloured Audi belonging to the now-retired Buncrana town clerk, Paul Doyle, was taken by Danielius Abartis (23), a Latvian man who was staying at Mr Doyle’s home along with a number of other foreign men.

An inquest in Carndonagh yesterday heard how Mr Abartis was over the legal alcohol limit when the Audi was involved in a head-on crash three miles outside Buncrana in the early hours of Saturday, February 18th, 2006. Mr Abartis died instantly.

The four others who were killed, travelling in a white Volkswagen Vento, were Aija Porcika (38), her daughter Ginta Veite (19); Marita Kerpe (28) and Ricardas Bielskis (35).

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Ms Porcika, her daughter, Ms Kerpe and Mr Bielskis, who was driving, were heading for Buncrana after having collected Ms Veite from Dublin airport. They were three miles from their destination when the crash occurred.

The inquest yesterday examined the deaths of Ms Porcika, a divorced mother of one from Latvia, living in Buncrana; Mr Bielskis, a father of one from Lithuania and living and working in Burnfoot, Co Donegal, and Mr Abartis, also from Latvia, who worked in construction in Buncrana. He was unmarried, but his girlfriend in Latvia was pregnant.

Ms Veite and Latvian mother-of-two Ms Kerpe both died at Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry, within hours of the incident, and therefore their inquests cannot be heard in the Republic.

Garda Paul Mannion told the inquest he was on duty in a patrol van with two officers that night. They were parked in Buncrana when the Audi drove past erratically at about 4.05am. He said the officers witnessed it glance off a parked car down the street. He said they suspected the driver was intoxicated, and they gave chase. They radioed for a Garda checkpoint to be set up farther ahead.

Garda Mannion said as they rounded a bend at Beach Halt, Fahan, they came upon the Audi on its side in the middle of the road. The badly smashed white Vento was on the hard shoulder facing the Derry direction.

Garda Anne McGreal said she found it difficult to make out how many people were in the Vento because it was “completely mangled”. The only other occupant of the Audi, Armondas Degimas, was to become the sole survivor.

The inquest heard of efforts by the authorities to identify the three deceased at the morgue in Letterkenny the next day. These included finger-printing and taking dental records. Positive identifications were eventually made that day by friends and housemates of the deceased living in the Inishowen area.

Coroner Dr John Madden said the autopsies showed Mr Bielskis had “zero alcohol” in his blood while Mr Abartis was over the legal limit at 240mg of alcohol to 100ml of blood. All three suffered multiple injuries and blood loss. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was returned in each of the three deaths.