Three-year-old died after drinking weedkiller

A three-year-old boy died tragically after accidentally drinking weedkiller from a 7up bottle in the garden of his grandfather’s home, an inquest heard today.

Seamus Hade Snr, the grandfather of James, broke down as he explained how the lethal liquid came to be in the back garden of his home at Oakley Park in Carlow.

The little boy’s father, Seamus Hade Jnr, told the Dublin City Coroner’s Court he had been minding his four children during the weekends at his parents’ home since he had split with his wife Catherine.

On May 16, 2004, he said he was feeding one of his children in the sitting room when he heard his daughter Rebecca tell his mother that James had drunk something in the back garden.

“My mother was on the phone to my father panicking. She was very upset,” he said. “My mother kept wiping his mouth.”

After Mr Hade Snr rushed back to the house, they brought James to the District Hospital in Carlow.

Mr Hade Snr told the inquest he kept paint and thinner materials in a wheeley bin in the back garden of his home, and he had removed some items that morning to carry out some tiling work for one of his other sons.

“But I can’t honestly recall taking out the bottle of weed killer,” he said, on the materials he removed from the bin.

The inquest heard James had begun to vomit after drinking liquid from a container in the back garden of the house, which was described as a 7up bottle containing weedkiller.

“In 2003, I poured the remainder of the liquid in the can (of weedkiller) into a 7up bottle and put a sports type bottle cap on top of it,” Mr Hade Snr said.

The hospital rushed James on to St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny for treatment, and Mr Hade Snr took the bottle of weedkiller to the hospital with him.

“I never realised how serious the situation was,” he said.

After James was transferred to Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin and Temple Street Children’s University Hospital, Mr Hade Snr said he nursed James and played with him.

“I noticed blisters on his lip but I thought he was on the mend, and it would only be a matter of time before we got him home. A priest came and anointed him, that was when I realised how serious it was.”

The inquest heard around 2.20am on May 21, 2004 James was pronounced dead - five days after swallowing the liquid.

Sgt Thomas Ellis from Carlow Garda Station, who investigated the death, said James had come in from the back garden vomiting after ingesting the material.

“It was a terrible tragedy,” the sergeant said. “The family have suffered dreadfully over it.”

The inquest heard James tested positive for paraquat in his system and he was transferred on to two hospitals in Dublin.

However, despite intensive treatment in Temple Street Children’s University Hospital the three-year-old’s renal function deteriorated and he died on May 21, 2004.

The pathologist found he died from renal failure and pulmonary complications as a result of the ingestion of paraquat, known as weedkiller.

The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said: “Unfortunately as you now know, paraquat takes several days to take effect.”

Dr Farrell said: “James ingested the weedkiller probably thinking it was something otherwise, like 7up.”

As he passed a verdict of accidental death, Dr Farrell said: “This was clearly a tragic accident.”

He added: “Sometimes I find it very difficult to find the right words to express condolences in the circumstances. Nothing I can say would do justice to this tragedy.”