Girl, 5, awarded €69k after cycling fall

A five-year-old Kerry girl who fell off the slipway in Fenit when cycling with her cousin had damages of €69,155 approved by the High Court in Limerick yesterday.

Ashleigh Clifford, now aged 13, of Ballyroe, Tralee, Co Kerry, sued Kerry County Council through her father Conor Clifford.

Padraig McCartan, counsel for the plaintiff, said the the damages were arrived at by the Injuries Assessment Board.

Approving the settlement, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the plaintiff had suffered a very nasty experience when she was enjoying a visit to her cousins in Fenit on February 22, 2007.

She and her cousin were on their bikes wearing helmets, cycling from the slip towards the car park. The plaintiff pulled her bike onto a concrete surface recess from the path, the edges of which were not protected form rocks below. She cycled over the edge and fell onto rocks some six feet below.

Ms Clifford sustained a laceration to the lower lip and a laceration to the chin which went down to the bone. She was brought to hospital in Cork where she had suturing of her wounds under general anaesthetic and the wounds healed subsequently.

She will require some further plastic surgery treatment at an estimated cost of €2,000 and further dental treatment at an estimated cost of €3,600.

Costs were also awarded.