Irishman died after bingeing on Polish vodka

A YOUNG Irishman died of alcohol poisoning in a hotel room in Poland after a drinking binge on Polish vodka, an inquest heard yesterday.

The Polish prosecution service, which oversaw a police investigation into James O’Shea’s death, told his older brother John that he had been drinking Polish vodka in the hours before his death.

Cork city coroner’s court heard Mr O’Shea, 24, from Gurranabraher Avenue, Cork, travelled to Poland with friends John Almond and Kieran Hegarty in early October, 2007.

They arrived in Jaworzno, a town about 100km south-west of the Polish capital, Warsaw, on October 3.

They spent the day drinking in a number of pubs, restaurants and clubs, the investigation established.

Then on October 5, they spent the day drinking in their room in the Dalia Hotel with “other people” and at some stage, the men fell asleep, the inquest was told.

However, Mr Almond and Mr Hegarty woke up at about 9.20pm and tried to rouse Mr O’Shea.

He was unresponsive and they called an ambulance. A doctor arrived at the scene and Mr O’Shea was pronounced dead a short time later.

James O’Shea’s older brother, John, told assistant Cork city coroner Philip Comyn that he learnt of the death from his brother, Florence.

With assistance from the Irish embassy in Poland, John and another brother, William, flew to Warsaw on October 9.

They travelled by taxi to Jaworzno and formally identified their brother’s remains the following day where they also received a copy of a pathology report. Reading a file from the Polish authorities, Garda Inspector Ger O’Mahony said a postmortem found a number of bruises and scratches on James O’Shea’s neck, chest, elbows and knees but they played no role in the death.

The cause of death was acute ethanol intoxication, the Polish authorities had established, Inspector O’Mahony said.

John O’Shea told the inquest that James had been taking medication for stomach ulcers, and that the Polish authorities told him his brother had been drinking Polish vodka before his death.

Mr Comyn said it was clear from the evidence that there were no other contributory factors.

“Alcohol brought about the death,” he said, before recording a verdict of misadventure.

James O’Shea’s body was flown back to Dublin for burial in Cork.