Westport man drowned in bath

Man drowned in bath fall


Anton McNulty

A WESTPORT man who banged his head and fell into a bath died when he drowned in a small amount of water, his inquest heard yesterday in Castlebar.
Brendan Flynn (51) of 7 The Paddock, Westport was found dead by one of his flatmates. He was found fully clothed in a bath in his home at 8.30am on June 29 last. Rubert Lukaszek told the inquest that he was in his room when he heard a ‘strong thump like somebody falling’ at approximately 12.30am but thought nothing of it and went to sleep.
He explained that he was going to the bathroom at 8.30am when he found Mr Flynn in the bath and initially thought he was sleeping but noticed that his colour was bad. After checking his pulse he noticed he was very cold and there was blood on the ground. He then contacted the gardaí.
The inquest heard that Mr Flynn had been drinking the night of the accident and the post mortem found that he had an small abrasion on his forehead. No foul play was suspected in the incident and Dr Tomas Nemeth, pathologist who carried out the post mortem, said that the cause of death was due to asphyxia due to drowning.
Dr Nemeth told the Coroner Mr John O’Dwyer that his theory was that he fell into the bath and drowned in a small amount of water. He said up to 7mm of fresh water was enough for a person to drown in, especially if there was alcohol involved.
Pat Ryan explained that he had been drinking with the deceased in Westport that night and they had got a taxi home together. He said Mr Flynn was inebriated when he left him but was in good form and did not complain of any ailments.
Mr O’Dwyer said there was no conclusive proof on how Mr Flynn fell and it was appropriate that an open verdict was recorded. He said he had no evidence as to what happened and extended his sympathy to Mr Flynn’s family on his tragic death.