Man found dead in pool of blood after chicken attack, inquest hears

Circumstances of the man’s death were unusual as a wound had been inflicted on his left calf by a chicken, doctor told inquest

A man died after he was attacked by an aggressive chicken that had been moved to his property after it had previously attacked a child, an inquest has heard.

The inquest in Ballaghaderreen into the death of Jasper Kraus, of Killahornia, Creagh, Ballinasloe, Co Roscommon, heard he was attacked by a Brahma chicken.

Garda Eoin Browne of Clonark told the inquest that on April 28, 2022, he was called out to the scene of a sudden death where he was met by paramedics. They told him they had carried out CPR but without success.

Garda Browne said the man was lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood and had a wound inflicted on the back of one of his legs. 

He said the body of the deceased was brought to the mortuary at Roscommon Hospital and later to University College Hospital for a post mortem.

In her deposition, Virginia Guinan, daughter of the deceased, said on the day in question, she dropped shopping off to her father at about 12 noon. 

She went inside and he was fast asleep. She didn’t want to wake him because his dog had died recently, and he was upset.

Ms Guinan said her father had suffered from ill health, was in remission from cancer and previously had renal failure. He was also on a lot of medication at the time.

The inquest heard she was later contacted by Corey O’Keeffe, who was a tenant in her father’s house, and he told her what had happened.

When she arrived at the house, she saw blood all over the floor and paramedics performing CPR on her father. 

Puncture wound

There was puncture wound to his left leg which had caused massive bleeding. In one of the other rooms, the TV was still on, and a cigarette was still smoking, she said.

She discovered a trail of blood from the house to where the chicken house was located. She said she then “realised that it must have been the chicken” that caused her father’s death. 

She saw one of the chickens with blood on its claws and suspected it was him who attacked her father “as he attacked my daughter before”. 

Corey O’Keeffe, in his deposition, said he lived at the address for two years and looked after the animals there, which included chickens and ducks. Some of the animals belonged to him and some to the late Mr Kraus.

On the day in question, Mr O’Keeffe returned from night duty at about 8am. He fed the animals and asked Mr Kraus how he was doing before he went to bed. He later woke up to hear Mr Kraus screaming, saying “come quick”.

Mr O’Keeffe said he could see blood spurting out of the back of the man’s leg. He saw a large wound on his calf and two other scratches on the other leg. He rang the emergency services, and after he tended to the cut on the man’s leg, they talked him through CPR for 25 minutes before the ambulance arrived. 

Mr O’Keeffe said when Mr Kraus was coming in and out of consciousness, he said the word “rooster”.

Trail of blood

Mr O’Keeffe also saw the trail of blood which led out towards the chicken house and said the chicken that attacked Mr Kraus “came here because it was aggressive before” and had attacked a child at a previous house.

In her deposition, read out at the inquest, Dr Annette Jennings said when she arrived at the scene, paramedics were trying to resuscitate the man but to no avail. He was pronounced dead at 3.24pm. 

Dr Jennings said the circumstances of the man’s death were unusual as a wound had been inflicted on his left calf by a chicken.

Giving direct evidence to the inquest, Dr Ramadan Shatwan said when he carried out the autopsy, the deceased’s face was covered in dry blood but there were no cuts to his face. Both lower limbs were also covered in blood. He said cause of death was due to lethal cardiac arrhythmia in the context of severe coronary atheroma and cardiomegaly.

When asked by Ms Guinan if her father had suffered a heart attack, he agreed and said another contributory factor was that the blood supply to the man’s heart was “severely calcified”. 

Ms Guinan said the family “knew his heart was bad”.

Before the inquest concluded, a visibly distressed Ms Guinan said she had to clean up her father’s blood and said there should be support for people in this situation. 

She said if it was a murder, as opposed to an accident, there would be help available to clean the blood up.

Coroner Mr Brian O’Connor, confirming the cause of death was in accordance with the pathologist’s findings, recorded a verdict of misadventure. 

As he expressed his sympathies to the family of the deceased and especially his daughter, Mr O’Connor described it as a dreadful experience for her.

Mr O’Connor also complimented Mr O’Keeffe, who he said did everything he could to render assistance, including contacting emergency services. On behalf of the gardaí, Sergeant Adrian Duffy also expressed his sympathies to the family.