New charges in Kinsale death case

New charges were preferred yesterday against a plumbing and heating firm following the 2011 death of a hotel guest from acute carbon monoxide poisoning in Kinsale, Co Cork.

A director of the Cork company, Richard Davis, had previously been charged with the manslaughter of Miriam Reidy who had been attending a hen party in the Trident Hotel at the time of her death.

Mr Davis, aged 45, with an address at Serenity, Killanully, Ballygarvan, Co Cork, and as a director of Davis Plumbing and Heating Contractors Ltd, also faces individual charges under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005.

State solicitor Malachy Boohig yesterday told Kinsale District Court that a book of evidence was expected to be completed for service on Davis by Oct 3.

Shane Collins Daly, for Mr Davis, said the defence was aware of the State’s request and consented to the adjournment. He said the State was also agreeable to amending a condition of a bail bond in which Mr Davis had to surrender his passport. Judge James McNulty agreed to vacate the earlier condition and return Mr Davis’s passport.

Meanwhile, separate charges were preferred yesterday against the company, Davis Heating and Plumbing Contractors Ltd, with an address at Unit 9, Portside, Marina Commercial Park, Centre Park Rd, Cork.

The company was charged with two offences under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act.

The charges state the company, in undertaking work at the Trident Hotel in the conversion of a Worchester Bosch Greenstar 40CDI boiler, failed to ensure individuals, who were not employees, were not exposed to risks under the 2005 act.

A second charge states that Ms Reidy suffered personal injuries and died as a consequence of the company breaching its duties under the legislation.

In addition to the unlawful killing charge, Mr Davis personally faces two similar charges under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, in that the breaches were attributable to connivance or neglect on his part.

Ms Reidy, born in Ballyhahill, Co Limerick, but with an address in Tralee, Co Kerry died on Jan 9, 2011, from acute carbon monoxide poisoning, an inquest in Cork heard last year.