Coroner points to danger of stairs after man’s tragic fall

A CORONER warned of the dangers of stairs yesterday after a tragic inquest.

Cork’s city coroner Dr Myra Cullinane was speaking after an inquest into the death of Dermot Buckley, 52, from Blarney, Co Cork, last year.

Mr Buckley, who suffered from epilepsy and who was an alcoholic, was a resident of a hostel in Tower, near Blarney, when the accident happened on November 27, 2007.

Alex Garvin, who was the only other resident in the hostel at the time, was watching TV downstairs, in full view of the stairs.

He said he saw Mr Buckley come out of his downstairs room and walk upstairs to use the toilet at about 9.20pm. He told the inquest he thought Mr Buckley had been drinking and unsteady on his feet.

As Mr Buckley was coming back down, Mr Gavin said he saw him lose his footing towards the top of the stairs, and fall head first, striking his head against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, knocking him unconscious.

Mr Garvin ran to a nearby takeaway to dial 999 and Mr Buckley was rushed to Cork University Hospital and was admitted in a comatose state. He never regained consciousness and died on December 14.

A postmortem found no evidence of heart attack or stroke. The cause of death was extensive brain concussion consistent with a fall. Only then did gardaí became aware of the circumstances of the death and the scene was examined the following day. Garda Pat O’Sullivan said he was satisfied the events had unfolded as Mr Garvin had outlined and there were no suspicious circumstances.

Dr Cullinane returned a verdict of accidental death and said: “I see many tragedies like this. It serves as a reminder to us that stairs can be very dangerous.”