Kinvara Pier death ‘a terribly unfortunate accident’

A retired priest who lost his life after driving off the pier in Kinvara last October died in what appeared to be a ‘terribly unfortunate accident’, an inquest was told this week.

The inquiry at Galway Coroner’s Court heard that Fr Anthony Minniter had attended 7pm Mass in St Joseph’s Church, Kinvara, on the evening of October 31, 2019.

Sometime before 8pm, witnesses walking alongside the green in the village noticed a silver car passed them – it would later become apparent that this had been Fr Minniter’s silver Ford Focus.

Witness James Dorrian said his house was adjacent to the Pier Head Bar and Restaurant and at around 8pm, he was alerted by a woman on the pier that there was a car in the water. Looking out, he said he could see a car around 15 to 20 metres away from the pier.

Mr Dorrian, along with a young woman who was at the scene, took control of a small row boat and made their way out to the car. He said the car had been brought out by the current.

Local mussel farmer David Krause said just before 8pm, he had received a phone call to say there was a car in the water. Using his fishing vessel, he and a colleague managed to get a rope around the wishbone of the car and pull it out of the water.

When they got to ground, they broke the passenger window where, as Mr Krause described, they found the single occupant, Fr Minniter, in the driver seat with his seat belt fastened.

Advanced Paramedic Emmet Forkan gave evidence that upon arriving at the scene, they found Fr Minniter had a viable heart rhythm, but was hypothermic. He was transported to UHG and CPR was administered.

Witness Angela Connolly, with whom Fr Minniter was staying, said he had suffered from moderate dementia for which he took a small amount of medication, but that he had been totally independent and cooked for himself each day. On the night of the accident, she said Fr Minniter had left a note to tell her he had gone to Mass.

When he hadn’t returned at 8.15pm, Ms Connolly became concerned and decided to go out to look for him. Having checked the church to see if his car was there, Ms Connolly said she became aware that a car had entered the water and went down check if it was Fr Minniter. When it became clear it was, she followed the ambulance to UHG.

Attempts to save Fr Minniter failed and he died at UHG in the early hours of November 1.

An inspection of Fr Minniter’s car found electrical damage as a result of being submerged in seawater, but concluded that the vehicle “appeared to have been in serviceable condition prior to impact”.

A post mortem concluded that Fr Minniter had not been under the influence of any substances when the accident took place.

The Coroner, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin said it was likely Fr Minniter had failed to take a necessary turn and concluded that the cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning, returning a verdict of accidental death.