Gardaí investigating if homemade alcohol led to death of man in Midleton

A man has died, and his wife was hospitalised, with homemade alcohol suspected as a possible cause

A member of the Garda Forensic team at the duplex where a man was found dead at Ard Na Corann, Bloomfield West, Midleton, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

The consumption of homemade alcohol may have been a factor in the death of a man whose wife was found in critical condition in a house in East Cork on Monday.

Tests on empty bottles that gardaí recovered from the house in Midleton, combined with the results of toxicology tests conducted as part of the autopsy on the dead man, will prove crucial in determining what happened in this tragic case, which has all the hallmarks of accidental poisoning.

Emergency services were called to the Polish couple’s property in Ard na Corran, in the large Broomfield West housing estate on the northern side of Midleton, at around 4 pm on Monday.

Paramedics found the 66-year-old man unresponsive on a couch. They administered medical assistance, but he did not respond and was pronounced dead at the scene.

They also found a woman in her 60s in a semi-conscious state in the property, and as they began treating her, she became increasingly unwell and was rushed in serious condition to Cork University Hospital (CUH).

However, she responded well to treatment overnight, and it is understood her condition has improved and she is now out of danger.

The property was sealed off for a full technical and forensic examination by Garda forensic experts, and foul play was ruled out in relation to the man’s death following a preliminary examination of the scene.

Gardaí recovered a number of empty bottles from the scene, which will be subjected to detailed forensic and chemical analysis.

Gardaí said on Monday that they were treating the man’s death as “unexplained” and that the results of the post-mortem will determine the course of their investigations.

An autopsy on the man was carried out on Tuesday, gardaí said, adding that they are preparing a file for the Coroner’s Court.

However, it could take several weeks before the results of certain toxicology tests on various blood samples are returned.

While those results are awaited, it is understood that one line of inquiry is that the couple fell ill after drinking homemade alcohol, often referred to colloquially as hooch.

Detectives hope that once the woman is well enough, she will be able to shed light on what they had ingested and how long they had been consuming it.

The results of the forensic examination of the scene, the findings from the autopsy, and the results of the various post-mortem tests will all be included in the file gardaí will prepare for the coroner’s court in due course.