Rayn ‘Ryan’ Frederick MacMinn (26) and his colleague were killed almost instantly after their vehicle veered off the tarmac before flipping over and barrelling across the Stuart Highway five miles north of the town of Elliot in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The father of two young children suffered injuries to his lungs, chest and diaphragm.
At an inquest in Jersey yesterday, Tony Forder, the States police’s Viscount liaison officer, read evidence from an Australian coroner’s report and said that Mr MacMinn’s injuries were’ so severe that death was inevitable’.
- The Stuart Highway is one of Australia’s major highways.
- It runs from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south.
- The highway runs a distance of 2,834 km (1,761 miles).
- The highway is named after Scottish explorer John McDouall Stuart, who was the first European to cross Australia from south to north and the highway approximates the route Stuart took.
- Until 2007, the Northern Territory section of the Stuart Highway had no speed limits at all, drivers were simply required to drive at a safe speed to suit the conditions.
The former doorman, who worked at Tanguy’s bar in St Helier, was working for a delivery firm in the country and was transporting goods from Darwin, Australia’s most northerly city, to Tenants Creek 615 miles away.
He was travelling with his colleague, 22-year-old Daniel Woodrow, who also died.
Mr Forder said that Mr MacMinn may have crashed as a result of’fatigue or a momentary lapse in concentration.
The Islander, whose parents, Graham and Marilyn, live in Jersey, had been driving for seven and a half hours but had stopped 50 minutes before the accident.
Mr Forder added that Mr MacMinn had been driving slightly over the 130 kph (about 80 mph) speed limit when the van’s wheels drifted off the road.
He then tried to swerve back onto the tarmac before the vehicle tipped over.
‘His reaction can be described as a panic response,’ Mr Forder added.
‘The speed he was driving at was not markedly more than the speed limit of the road.
‘This was a tragic road accident and on behalf of the States of Jersey police I would like to place on record our condolences to the family.’
A number of fundraising events have been held to help Mr MacMinn’s family to fund the repatriation of his body.
About £20,000 was raised, which was almost double the initial target.
Acting Viscount Advocate Mark Harris recorded a verdict that Mr MacMinn died after suffering multiple internal injuries as a result of ‘a motor vehicle rollover’.
