Inquest rules out electrocution as cause owinford man’s death

Inquest rules out electrocution as cause of Swinford man’s death


Trevor Quinn

The jury at an inquest into the death of a Swinford man agreed unanimously on Tuesday last that he died of natural causes – and not electrocution as a report had stated three years ago .
Padraig Gavaghan (41), Knocks, Killasser, Swinford, was an employee of Seamus Brett & Sons Ltd and was working at the time of his sudden death on the morning of July 28, 2008, at Knockavilla, Meelick.
Mr Gavaghan had been operating a lorry-mounted crane attached to a Scania truck before he was found dead. His employer, Brendan Brett, said he was ‘in good form’ just minutes before he was found lying lifeless on steel mesh at the rear of the vehicle.
Mr Brett said he saw a flame on top of the jack that Mr Gavaghan had been using. The crane arm was also resting on overhead electric wires, which were sustaining electricity of more than 10,000 volts.
The inquest heard that Mr Gavaghan had been involved in constructing walls on a shed and was unloading shuttering panels on the site when the incident occurred. He had unloaded some pallets and then proceeded to the back of the shed.
At a previous sitting of the coroner’s court, a witness said that no one had seen Mr Gavaghan  exit the lorry. Moments later, a work colleague saw Mr Gavaghan on the ground. He shouted over to nearby workers to raise the alarm.
Mr Brett rang 999 immediately. He observed the crane resting against the ESB line. He subsequently pulled Mr Gavaghan away and started CPR. Soon after a doctor arrived and pronounced that Mr Gavaghan was dead.
Assistant state pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis, had been asked to review the autopsy, as Dr Michael McKenna of HSE Castlebar had found two causes of death in his original report, electrocution and coronary artery thrombosis.
After an extensive examination of the medical history of the deceased, the autopsy and the details of the incident Dr Michael Curtis said that he disagreed with this assessment.
Dr Curtis told the inquest that it was his belief that the report carried out by Dr McKenna in the original report after the post-mortem was carried out was ‘speculative’ adding, “I feel it was incorrect.” Dr McKenna had previously stated he believed that Mr Gavaghan had been in the cab when the crane arm struck the overheard cables and had subsequently been ‘thrown out’ of the vehicle.
Dr Curtis disagreed, saying that Mr Gavaghan had suffered a massive heart attack and that it was his belief that he had fallen out of the cab of the vehicle just moments before the crane arm came into contact with the overhead cables.
He said that on examination no external injuries such as entry or exit burns which usually are present on the arms and feet had been found. He said that this was most unusual in the case of electrocution and this complete lack of burns usually only occurs when electrocution occurs in water.
Dr Curtis also said that injury to internal organs is usually associated with electrocution and he explained that there was no evidence of this in the case of the deceased.
The inquest also heard that Mr Gavaghan had a previous history of ‘severe’ heart disease and had stents inserted to alleviate the condition. Dr Curtis added: “With heart disease of this severity Mr Gavaghan would have been predisposed to coronary artery thrombosis and sudden death at any time.”
The six jurors present deliberated for a number of minutes and came to an unanimous decision that Mr Gavaghan had died of natural causes.
Coroner Mr Pat O’Connor and Garda Inspector Martin Byrne expressed their condolences to the Gavaghan family on their loss.