Open verdict on ambulance driver’s death

A JURY returned an open verdict yesterday following an inquest into the death of an ambulance driver who was killed after a road accident while transferring a patient to hospital last year.

Cork Coroner’s Court heard that John O’Mahony, a 42-year-old married man from Clonakilty, Co Cork, died from a combination of massive head, chest and abdominal injuries a number of hours after the ambulance he was driving left the road and flipped onto its side while travelling along the main Bandon to Cork road last September.

Mr O’Mahony and his partner, Joseph Tobin, were transferring a patient to Cork University Hospital (CUH) when the accident happened on a straight stretch of road at Toureen at about 4.40am on Saturday, September 17. Driving conditions at the time were good.