Family tried to save farmer from raging bull, inquest hears

A raging bull gored a retired farmer as his family tried frantically to halt its rampage, an inquest heard today.

Peter Downey, aged 75, was butted by the animal after it went wild on the family farm at Meigh, near Newry, Co Down.

As the pensioner lay wounded from the first attack, he gasped to his son Robert: “He got me, he got me, I’m going to die.”

Mr Downey, whose ribs and pelvis were shattered, died in hospital nearly two months later. Even though he no longer ran the farm, Mr Downey had continued to help out after his retirement.

He was bringing cows in from milking, helped by two teenage grandsons, when the attack happened in August 2003.

A Friesian bull accompanying the cattle went wild, battering the defenceless victim.

While one of the boys stood over him with a stick, the other ran for help.

Robert Downey told Belfast Coroner’s Court how his father predicted he wouldn’t survive when he rushed to his side.

As he tried to chase the cattle into a shed so an ambulance could get through, Mr Downey also recalled: “The bull then put its head down.

“His head hit me, tossing me into the air. I landed on a wet spot which broke my fall.”

The animal, which had shown no previous signs of aggression in its three years on the farm, then went back to the older man as he lay stricken.

“My father shouted don’t let him get me,” Mr Downey said. “The bull was pushing him like a rag doll.”

The animal was destroyed the next day.

Mr Downey, who recovered from a stoke 10 years earlier but had heart problems, was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast but his injuries were so severe that he died on October 5, 2003.

Dr Brian Herron, a neuropathologist at the Royal, reckoned Mr Downey may have survived if there had been no history of heart disease. However, he added that even a younger, healthy man might not have recovered.

John Leckey, the Coroner for Greater Belfast found that Mr Downey’s poor health had blunted his chances of recovering from the multiple injuries.

He said: “Farming as an occupation is hazardous. The hazards can take the form of farm machinery or livestock farmers have to work with daily.

“Bulls are difficult animals to work with, they are unpredictable and my understanding is that a Friesian is particularly unpredictable.

“It’s dreadful this happened, particularly as the bull had shown no previous indication of this sort of behaviour.”

Turning to Robert Downey, he added: “It’s fortunate you were not killed also."