Couple get €18k over pin trauma

A couple, both of whom claimed to have developed a mental adjustment disorder after their 12-year-old daughter’s arm was pricked by a pin in a hotel bed, have been awarded €18,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.

Robert and Gillian Kane, of Robb’s Rd, Dundonald, told a judge of the nightmare of not knowing for weeks if their daughter Amy’s skin had been punctured by a possibly infected needle in the Travelodge Hotel, Castleknock, Co Dublin, in Jun 2009.

Judge Matthew Deery, in awarding them €9,000 each against Smorgs Ltd, which trades as Travelodge Group, said the needle turned out to be nothing more than a pin from a brooch or jewellery but the Kanes were not to know it at the time.