Experts disagree over cause of death of Dublin man

A retired pathologist has told a manslaughter trial that he disagrees with the conclusions of the chief State pathologist that the alleged victim died from a rare type of cardiac arrest.

On Thursday, chief State pathologist Marie Cassidy told the jury in the trial of Paul Brannigan, 24, that the man died from commotio cordis, a rare cause of death resulting from a blow to the chest.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the cause of death was more prevalent in America, specifically among ice hockey players and baseball pitchers who collapsed after being hit by the hard ball or puck.

Mr Brannigan, of Ratoath Drive, Finglas, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Jason Saunders at Fassaugh Avenue, Cabra West, on March 18, 2014.

He has further pleaded not guilty to assaulting Mr Saunders causing him harm and to producing a golf club in the course of a dispute at the same date and location.

On day four of the trial retired assistant State pathologist Declan Gilsenan said he disputed Prof Cassidy’s findings. He said he believed that the man died as a result of a cocktail of illegal drugs and his involvement in an argument.

Prof Cassidy’s evidence was that Mr Saunders died from commotio cordis, a lethal disruption of heart rhythm occurring as a result of a blow to the chest directly over the heart at a critical time. The blow to the heart had to occur within a 30 millisecond window during the cycle of a heart beat.

The jury also heard evidence of Mr Brannigan’s garda interviews in which he admitted having a verbal row with Mr Saunders and head-butting him. He said he also swung a golf club at him to scare him away but denied striking him with it.

Dr Gilsenan told Conor Devally, defending, that based on his own examination he believed that the death of Mr Saunders was caused by a combined effect of the dispute and the cocktail of drugs.

He said the dispute would have caused a spike in adrenaline which would have sensitised the heart to cardiac arrest. He said the ability of cocaine to disturb the rhythm of the heart was not dependent on the dose.

He said there were no recorded instances of death due to commotio cordis in this country. He said if Mr Saunders’ death was held up as being caused by the condition it would be the first one.

He told Mr Devally that there might be 50 deaths caused annually by the condition in the US and he estimated that this meant a incidence rate of one in 50m.

He compared this with an analysis he did of cocaine- related deaths in the Cork and Kerry region over a five-year period. Based on an average of five deaths a year, he said the incidence rate was one in 50,000.

The trial continues before Judge Patrick McCartan and a jury of six women and six men.