THE EFFORTS of a mother and grandfather to revive a toddler who died after falling into a water tank on a farm were recalled yesterday at an inquest described by the coroner as “one of the most tragic accidents I have ever come across.”
Patrick McDonnell (20 months) had been playing on the family farm, at Roughgrange, Donore, Co Meath.
His grandfather, James, took his body from the water containment tank after he and Patrick’s mother Caroline had searched the farm for him.
Drogheda Coroner’s Court heard that after having breakfast with his mother and grandparents, the boy had gone with his grandfather to collect eggs on the farm.
The farm has a free-range egg production unit.
After he played while his grandfather had collected the eggs, he then had been playing beside his mother as she was cleaning and sorting eggs.
Ms McDonnell broke down as the inquest heard how Patrick had been playing beside her. She gave him eggs to throw at the cats and then she couldn’t see him.
“I started to call out. I went down to the slurry pit but there was no sign,” she said.
She checked at the house and in case he had gone on to the trampoline, which he had not done before, but still she could not find him.
His grandfather joined her in calling for him and searching.
The inquest heard how Mr McDonnell had got a stick and went to the tank and “put the stick in. The stick caught and Patrick came up. We took Patrick out and tried to revive him.”
His mother was hysterical but along with his grandfather, she kept trying to save her son’s life.
The inquest heard how both tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
“I was trying also and stuff was coming out of him. I carried Patrick back down to the house and the ambulance arrived shortly afterwards.”
When the paramedics arrived Patrick was in the kitchen and more efforts were made to revive him. However, he suffered a heart attack as he was being brought to the AE department of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
The coroner Ronan Maguire heard the farm was leased to Jamie McDonnell, the boy’s father, by Mr McDonnell snr who had continued to live on the farm with his wife, Irene.
Patrick had lived with his siblings and parents in another house nearby.
The boy’s father said he left home earlier that morning, October 19th, 2010, to sell lambs at Blessington mart. He was still at the mart when he got a call at about 11.30 am to say Patrick had been in an accident.
The court was told that although it was called the slurry pit by the family, it was actually full of water and was a containment tank to catch dirty water from the yard. It was built in 1976 and was 6ft long and 30ft wide.
The coroner also heard that there was a high wall around the tank but it was 20 inches lower in one particular part.
A postmortem concluded he had drowned; he was pronounced dead after all efforts by medical staff, including a consultant in emergency medicine, were unsuccessful at resuscitating him.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Maguire said: “This is one of the most tragic accidents I have ever come across as coroner. He was very young and was just being a kid. It is just an appalling tragedy.”
The coroner added: “Any words I say are grossly inadequate to describe the loss the family has suffered, you have our heartfelt sympathy. It is beyond words what you are suffering.”