Woman’s death beneath tree ruled to be an accident

A WOMAN sustained fatal injuries on her way home from work when she was struck by part of a tree which was sheered off in extreme winds, Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.

Lynda Collins, aged 45, of Woodbine Avenue, Booterstown, Co Dublin, had left work at the ESB and was walking along Waterloo Road, Dublin 4, when she was struck by the horse chestnut tree near the junction with Upper Baggot Street, on February 3.

Anthony McDonnell said the wind had been very strong as he walked along the path on Waterloo Road just after 5pm, when he heard “a cracking noise”.

“I heard the creaking and the snapping and I saw the tree falling down. The lady across the road was walking in the opposite direction to me. When she heard the tree snap she looked up and it looked like she froze for a second. Then she ran, but in the path of the tree,” said Mr McDonnell.

Motorist Daniel Fitzpatrick described hearing a “huge bang” and then realising a tree had come down on the bonnet of his car.

Mr Fitzpatrick said he had a “lucky escape” and that his vehicle was a “right off”.

The court heard many pedestrians were in the area at the time and a large number of passers-by, including an off-duty paramedic and a hospital doctor on his way home from work, went to Ms Collins’ assistance.

Robert Halligan, who saw the top half of the tree fall on Ms Collins, told the coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, that about 15 people tried to lift the tree off her. It was lying across almost the whole width of the road. A school desk was also used in the attempt to lift the tree.

Patrick Kennedy took a garage jack, which can lift two tonnes, from his car and managed to lift the tree until members of Dublin Fire Brigade arrived and got the mother-of-three out using two airbags.

An off-duty member of the Dublin Fire Brigade, Amanda Guilfoyle, who was on her way to work when she came upon the accident, said there were no signs of life.

The coroner commended all the members of the public who tried to assist.

Ms Collins was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital where she was pronounced dead, but the coroner said it appeared she died at the scene. Her death was due to multiple thoracic injuries.

The inquest heard the tree, which was in the grounds of the International School of Dublin at 1 Pembrook Road, Dublin 4, had no obvious defect at the point of failure and was not decayed or soft, but that it had an internal crack, which would have increased its vulnerability to sheering.

Joseph McConville, an arboricultural consultant who carried out an inspection of the tree at the request of the gardaí, said he did not believe that an examination would have identified the significance of the defect prior to failure and that the weather was a very significant contributory cause of the failure. Mr McConville said it would have taken a “climbing inspection” to identify the defect.

It is up to the landowner of the land on which a tree grows to ensure it is not a threat to the public, the inquest heard. The tree, one of a group of three, was subsequently cut to the ground, as were the two other trees.

The coroner Dr Brian Farrell said the risk factors for the incident were the high winds on the evening and the internal defect.

“This was a tragic accident,” Dr Farrell said, recording a verdict of accidental death.

Dr Farrell expressed his condolences to her husband, Richard Collins, and to her family.