A Wexford teenager suffered fatal crush injuries while working on a car at his family farm after a jack that was holding up the vehicle slipped, an inquest has heard.
Colm Donnelly (18), a Leaving Certificate student from Tinnock, Gorey, Co Wexford died at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin on February 14th, 2023, five days after the incident in a shed at his home.
The victim’s father, Walter Donnelly, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday that his son was working at around 10:30pm on his black Volkswagen Passat which had passed its NCT test earlier that day.
Mr Donnelly explained that Colm wanted to put new tyres on the vehicle as well as change the exhaust pipe.
The witness said he had told his son to jack up the vehicle and to ensure he placed blocks and wedges underneath the car.
Mr Donnelly said he was in the farmyard tending to cattle and knew immediately something was wrong when he received a call at 10:36pm from his son, who cried out: “Da, Da, Da.”
He described running into the shed and finding that the jack had slipped, which had resulted in the vehicle falling on his son.
Mr Donnelly said his son’s legs were sticking out from underneath the car but Colm was not responsive.
He phoned a neighbour for help after he was unable to lift the vehicle on his own before dialling 999 for further assistance.
With the help of neighbours who arrived with other lifting equipment, Mr Donnelly said they were able to jack up the vehicle and get his son out from underneath it.
Although Colm was still unresponsive, Mr Donnelly said he began CPR to try and resuscitate him.
The inquest heard paramedics arrived shortly after and worked on the victim for about an hour on the ground and about another hour in an ambulance before he was transported to SVUH in Dublin.
Mr Donnelly said his family were informed by hospital staff that an X-ray showed his son had suffered brain damage.
“We kind of knew it was bad news, but we hoped,” the witness recalled.
He told the coroner that Colm was kept alive for a period to facilitate the donation of some of his organs.
Mr Donnelly described his son as “a great chap.
“He just wanted to work on farms,” his father observed.
He praised his son’s teachers for not pressing him too hard at school, while also recalling his love of sports, including Gaelic football, hurling and rugby, which he played for local schools and clubs.
Fundraising
The inquest heard a total of €57,500 had been raised through a fundraising charity tractor run held last year to keep Colm’s memory alive.
Mr Donnelly said Gorey District Hospital and the intensive care unit in SVUH had each received €20,000, while the two schools which his son had attended – Kilanerin National School and Gorey Community College – were each given €8,750.
He said the funding had allowed Colm’s former primary school to open a new library earlier this year.
In reply to questions from the coroner, Clare Keane, Mr Donnelly said his son had bought the Passat shortly after he had turned 18.
He believed his son “could not have had a better day” in the hours before the fatal incident as his car had passed its NCT, and they had been making plans about a new calf shed and going into partnership on the farm.
Mr Donnelly said Colm was delighted that the car had passed the test and was going to put new tyres on it before driving to school the next morning.
He believed the accident occurred when his son pulled strongly on the exhaust pipe to remove it, even though the blocks holding up the vehicle had remained in place.
“He wasn’t squashed. There wasn’t a mark on him. He just couldn’t take a breath,” said Mr Donnelly.
A neighbour, James Evans, gave evidence of rushing to the Donnelly farm after being alerted by Colm’s father.
He said the victim was around 6ft 4ins and was under the car up to his waist.
Mr Evans said he and Mr Donnelly were looking on in disbelief at the teenager who was lifeless.
He tried to feel a pulse but could not detect one.
In a written statement, a consultant in emergency medicine at SVUH, John Ryan, said the victim had suffered major trauma from a crush injury which compromised his airway and he had suffered a cardiac arrest due to the lack of oxygen.
Professor Ryan said the patient had suffered no spinal fracture but had sustained a brain injury as a result of the incident.
The inquest heard a series of CT scans showed that the boy had no chance of recovery.
Dr Keane said she had been informed by Organ Donation Transplant Ireland that Colm’s organs, including his liver, lung and kidneys, had been used to save the lives of four other patients, which the coroner described as “unbelievably remarkable.”
A postmortem confirmed that he had died as a result of hypoxic brain injury from a lack of oxygen caused by the crush injuries when the vehicle fell on top of him.
Returning a verdict of accidental death, Dr Keane told the victim’s relatives that she had “absolute admiration for what you have done for a family who suffered unimaginable loss.”
“It is clear you loved him,” she said.
Speaking after the inquest, Mr Donnelly, who was accompanied by his daughter, Niamh, said it was a great comfort that nobody else was to blame for his son’s death.
“It was just a horrible freak accident,” said Mr Donnelly.
