Cork teenager died after riding horse into water

A coroner is to write to a local authority to ask them to erect warning signs at the confluence of two rivers where a 15-year-old died earlier this year when he rode a horse into the water.

Cork City Coroner, Dr Myra Cullinane, said she intends raising the issue of erecting danger signs at a public park fronting on to the Glashaboy River in Glanmire with Cork County Council following the death of Eric Stanton on February 28th, 2015.

The teenager had entered the river on horseback, just downstream of where it is joined by the Butlerstown River, and where the river bed suddenly drops away.

Dr Cullinane said it was important that there should be some warning sign to alert the public to the dangers of the spot, as non-locals may assume the river bed remains constant rather than suddenly falling away, creating a dangerous pool several metres deep.

Sgt Fergus Twomey told the inquest into Mr Stanton's death that the pool had been the scene of a similar tragedy some 40 years ago, when a woman and a serving member of An Garda Síochána died in the same spot.

Riding horses

The inquest heard how on the day in question, Mr Stanton, from Avonmore Park, Mayfield, Cork city, and his friend, Ruben Stillwell (15), had gone down to a field near the river and went riding on two horses belonging to local man, Sean Ryan.

They knew Mr Ryan and had previously fed and ridden the animals, which were used in trotting and sulky racing.

On the day in question, they made two halters for the animals from some ropes they found in the field.

They rode the horses from the field into a nearby estate and then into John O’Callaghan Park, which backs on to the Glashaboy River.

They raced each other for a time before they decided to ride the horses into the river, Mr Stillwell told gardaí in a statement.

“We decided we’d try and go deeper into the water. We both came out of the river and I got off my horse to put my phone on the river bank.

“Eric stayed on the horse and threw his phone on the ground. I was on the river bank when I heard Eric shout my name,” Mr Stillwell said.

“I turned around and I saw the horse going under the water. Eric was still on his back holding the rope.

“The water was up to about Eric’s shoulders. The horse was totally under the water. The horse came back up and he was neighing and throwing his legs out.

“The horse was swimming, it was like the horse was panicking with water up to his chest - Eric slipped off the back of the horse and went under the water for a few seconds. He came back up and he was swimming, trying his hardest.

“He was coming out a small bit but he must have lost his energy because he got sucked down and didn’t come back up again and [I] started shouting for help and one of the lads who had been fishing came up to me and I told him ‘He’s gone under the water’.”

The inquest heard from local men, Kevin and Thomas Noonan and Florrie Crowley, who were all fishing in the river at the time.

They all told the inquest how the river is known locally as being very dangerous at that point.

The inquest heard how Kevin Noonan had tied a rope around his waist and waded into the river up to his waist but could find no sign of the missing boy.

He then shouted to his brother and Mr Crowley to notify the emergency services, which they did.

Fireman search

Cork city fireman Ray Tuohy said he waded into the river with a personal flotation device and began searching for Mr Stanton with a long hooked pool and located him in a pool.

He said that he could not touch the bottom of the pool with the pole so it must have been several metres deep.

Mr Tuohy said that there was also a strong current in the river at the time.

Mr Tuohy was assisted by his colleague Keith Coleman in bringing Mr Stanton to the riverbank, where paramedics performed CPR.

Mr Stanton was then brought to Cork University Hospital, where he later died.

Mr Ryan said he was friendly with the two boys and had let them ride the horses in the field, but the week previously he had warned Mr Stanton to never bring the horses to the river as there was “a serious hole in the river [bed] and it was very dangerous.”

Sgt Owen O’Connell said the spot was known locally as being quite dangerous but there were no warning signs up on the day of the tragedy and none had been erected since.

He said that he also believed that it was an appropriate location for a life buoy or some life-saving equipment.

Dr Cullinane said that a post-mortem by assistant state pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster had established that Mr Stanton had died due to drowning with hypothermia.

Dr Bolster returned a verdict of death by misadventure.

She extended her deepest sympathies to Mr Stanton’s parents, James and Catherine, and his siblings on their loss and said she would write to Cork County Council to highlight the need for danger signs and life-saving equipment at the public park near the scene of the incident.