Alleged killer driver Terry Christopher Donovan left ‘in shock’ after crash that killed Helen Minerds

A father-of-three charged over the death of a beloved grandma in a Port Adelaide road crash says it left him “in shock” and unable to work.

A man who allegedly drove through a red light and struck an elderly woman as she started to cross the road has told a court he “didn’t see the lights change” before the fatal crash.

On Friday, Terry Christopher Donovan told the District Court he wasn’t familiar with the road on which he was driving when he allegedly hit and caused the death of beloved grandmother Helen Denise Minerds in July 2021.

Mr Donovan, who worked as a community support worker for almost a decade before the incident, told the court he had stopped at a fresh fruit store in the area to buy apples for his clients before roadworks forced him to turn down a street not known to him.

He said he did notice upcoming sets of traffic lights further down the street, but he had not seen the lights at that particular intersection change.

“I did notice that there were green pedestrian lights, some green traffic lights there,” he said.

“As I was getting closer, I was looking at the lights that were ahead and I didn’t see those lights change unfortunately.”

Mr Donovan, a 61-year-old Greenwith father of three, pleaded not guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, but did admit to driving without due care.

Terry Donovan pleaded not guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. Picture Dean Martin

Prosecutors allege his failure to notice the traffic lights at a pedestrian crossing on St Vincent Street in Port Adelaide amounted to dangerous driving.

They allege that, after seeing the green light for pedestrians, Ms Minerds had taken as few as three steps into the crossing when Mr Donovan hit her with his silver Suzuki Ignis.

Ms Minerds suffered head injuries and subsequently passed away in hospital the following day.

Mr Donovan said by the time he could figure out what had happened, it was too late.

“By the time I realised what had happened because I was looking up at those lights ahead, I remember seeing a woman who was facing away from me and I tried to brake,” he said.

“Apart from that, there was nothing I could do and I struck that lady.”

He said he “stopped immediately” after but saw the woman was “getting help” and so he let the people around her know he was just going to move the car to a safer spot.

“I just stopped in shock and waited. It happened so quickly I could not tell you at what point on that road I noticed and didn’t notice things.”

Judge Joana Fuller asked Mr Donovan if he knew that he was driving through a red light at the time.

“No. Not at all,” he said.

He said he was unable to work after the accident, which left him ‘traumatised.’ Picture Dean Martin

“After the accident, once I struck that woman, I was in shock. Traumatised. The police couldn’t even pursue an interview.”

Mr Donovan, who worked as a community support worker for almost a decade before the incident, said the trauma of the crash meant he couldn’t face going back to work.

“The mental impact of the incident meant I wasn’t able or willing or mentally capable to be doing the work I was doing,” he told Judge Fuller.

“I’ve worked as a mental health community support outreach worker and that is what I was doing on the day (of the accident).”

Judge Fuller will deliver her verdict in November.