INQUESTS WERE held yesterday into the deaths of two people who died in different circumstances in the Christmas period in Dublin
The first inquest heard a young man who died after falling from the third-floor balcony of an apartment complex after a night out may have been standing on the balcony railings to knock on a window of his girlfriend’s flat when he fell, an inquest has heard.
Fergal Lyons (29), of Glendown Avenue, Templeogue, Dublin, was found lying on the ground at York Street flats directly under the apartment of his girlfriend, Joanne Burke, in the early hours of December 6th, 2008.
Mr Lyons was taken to St James’s Hospital by ambulance where he was pronounced dead at 5.16am, an hour and a quarter after the incident, Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard yesterday. A postmortem found Mr Lyons, who had been on a pre-Christmas night out with friends, had a high level of alcohol in his system with 288 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.He died of multiple injuries as a result of his fall.
Gardaí are satisfied Mr Lyons was trying to access his girlfriend’s flat at the time, Sgt Paul Tallon of Harcourt Terrace Garda station told the inquest yesterday.
Sergeant Tallon said that, after knocking on the door, Mr Lyons may have stood on a balcony railing and knocked on a window to get Ms Burke’s attention and that, due to the icy weather, he slipped.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said it was an accidental fall, but because of the risk factors he would record a verdict of death by misadventure.
The court heard Mr Lyons was out with the Irish Gardeners and Landscapers Organisation for their annual Christmas night on December 5th.
The coroner apologised to Mr Lyons’s mother and sister, who were at the court yesterday, for the delay in holding the inquest,
The second inquest was told a 60-year-old found dead in his apartment two weeks after Christmas by a caretaker had been dead for four weeks at the time of the discovery.
Anthony Walsh was found in his apartment at Elgin Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, on the afternoon of January 7th, 2010, by caretaker Bernard Leahy who entered the apartment using a master key after he became concerned about Mr Walsh. One of his brothers told the coroner it was not unusual for Mr Walsh not to be in contact.
He recorded a narrative verdict.
An inquest at Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard Mr Walsh was last seen by Mr Leahy on December 3rd, 2009, when he paid his rent.
Garda John Clancy of Donnybrook Garda station told the inquest Mr Leahy withdrew money from his bank account on December 4th.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell told Mr Walsh’s two brothers, who were in court yesterday,“We think Anthony may have died on or about the 4th . . . Because of the length of time, we weren’t able to do a satisfactory postmortem or a full toxicology screening,” he said.
“We do not have a definite cause of death, but we believe death was due to natural causes . . . possibly due to a heart attack.”