'Split second devastation' Laois dad and son died accidentally, road crash inquest concludes

A Laois father and son killed when their car struck a truck in Offaly more than two years ago died accidentally, an inquest concluded.

The coroner's court in Tullamore heard on Monday, January 31 that Vincent Rossi (29) and his son Sully (8) from Mill Court, Portlaoise died at Scrubb, Killeigh on May 27, 2019 when the car they were in crossed the middle of the road and hit an articulated lorry which was driving in the opposite direction.

Vincent Rossi was the driver of the car and two of his other children were seated with Sully in the back of the Volkswagen Golf, daughter Hayley (9), who was taken by air ambulance to Crumlin Hospital, and another son Daniel (8), who was treated afterwards in Tullamore Hospital. Both survived the accident.

Patrick O'Donoghue, Ballytore, Athy, Co Kildare, the driver of the lorry, broke down as he was giving evidence at the inquest and said he is still receiving counselling as a result of the crash.

Mr O'Donoghue, who was in his late 60s at the time of the collision and said he had never been in an accident before, said he did not see the other vehicle until the last second when it came towards him and hit him at speed.

It turned into him all of a sudden and when he tried to veer to his left he could not do so because his steering box had been broken by the impact which was on the driver's side under his cab.

His lorry ended up moving to the right and ended up on the other side of the road, as did the car, though its driver's door remained at the side of the truck.

Another witness, Helen Kelly, gave evidence of being overtaken by a black Volkswagen Golf at Killeigh village and she said her passengers were startled by its noise.

Ms Kelly said the car was travelling at a “crazy speed” in the village and then overtook two other cars and a tractor and trailer, but added during cross-examination that the Golf had not created danger.

Ms Kelly said after she had come out of Killeigh village she saw black debris on the road and a lorry driver.

Padraig Kirwan, who was driving a van behind Mr O'Donoghue's lorry, said he heard a loud bang and then saw a puff of white smoke, a car spinning across the road and the truck “bunny hopping” and then crossing as well.

Mr Kirwan got out and saw a man and children in the car and asked another lady who was present to phone the emergency services.

Mr Kirwan also said he went over to the lorry driver who said to him: “He just came out of nowhere.”

A driver who was coming from the same direction as Mr Rossi's car, Juirius Guesus, said he stopped when he saw an artic and a small car and he tried to smash the window to get a boy out.

Mateusz Musialski, a first responder with the ambulance service, said he had to make the difficult decision to assist the two survivors in the car when he ascertained that neither the driver nor a male child in the back had a pulse.

Sergeant Caroline Keogh told the inquest that Mr O'Donoghue passed a breath test at the scene and another garda who was present, Sergeant William Kirwan, said the lorry driver stated the other vehicle had come “out of nowhere”.

The inquest was told that Mary Heavin identified the remains of her son Vincent Rossi and grandson Sully later that evening at Tullamore Hospital.

Ms Heavin said she had moved to Ireland from Chester, living in Limerick first and then in Portlaoise.

At the time of the accident, her son Vincent and his children were living with her and after a period working on highway maintenance, Vincent, who was not living with the children's mother, became a full-time dedicated father.

Ms Heavin said Vincent was a named driver on her Golf's insurance, and it was a car he loved and maintained to a high spec. She described him as a careful driver.

She had been working in Dublin the day of the accident and had texted her son earlier but heard nothing after 5pm until she got home later and was told by gardai of the tragedy.

Sergeant Paul Kearney, forensic collision investigator, said he had no doubt that the point of impact was on the lorry driver's side of the road because of a gouge mark in his lane near the centre.

The collision occurred on the N80 between Portlaoise and Tullamore, a wide road with a broken white centre line.

The driver's side door of the car was embedded in the truck and its roof was crushed and the evidence suggested to him the Golf had crossed the road and about half of it had crossed the centre white line.

Dr Charles d'Adhemar, pathologist, Tullamore Hospital, gave evidence of carrying out post mortems on both deceased and said while Mr Rossi sustained multiple injuries, the most severe ones were to the head and abdomen, including a skull fracture and extensive trauma to the liver.

Though there was evidence of cannabis use, Dr d'Adhemar said it was not up to him to say if it was a contributing factor and it did not form part of his conclusion.

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He concluded that Vincent Rossi's death was due to head and abdominal trauma due to a road traffic accident.

He said Sully Rossi had several fractures and serious injuries, including severe injury to the upper spine.

Dr d'Adhemar's conclusion was that the five-year-old died instantaneously from severe head, neck and thoracic trauma due to being a passenger in a road traffic accident.

Offaly county coroner, Raymond Mahon, described the event which led to the death of the father and son as devastating and tragic.

Mr Mahon said cannabis was not a cause of death because the cause was clearly severe injuries to both victims.

He said the correct verdict in both cases was accidental death and whatever happened had happened accidentally when a father was driving with his children.

He extended his sympathy to the family and wished Sully Rossi's siblings well, saying it was devastating for the family to lose two members in a split second.

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Mr Mahon also offered his sympathy to Mr O'Donoghue who had been deeply affected by how the accident occurred and he thanked the emergency services for their work which helped the other two children survive, words which were echoed by Sergeant James O'Sullivan, representing the gardai.

Denis Linehan, representing Martina Morrissey, mother of Sully, said there had been a double loss because Ms Heavin lost her son and Ms Morrissey lost hers.

Mr Linehan said Ms Morrissey had asked him to state that she really appreciated the heroic efforts by members of the gardai and first responders and only for their contribution the tragedy could have been considerably worse.