Two pensioners were killed after becoming trapped by their own vehicles in separate incidents within the space of just over a month, inquests in Dublin have heard.
Margaret McLoughlin (67), a mother of two from Rochfort Close, Lucan, Co Dublin, died in Tallaght University Hospital on December 14th, 2022, from injuries sustained six days earlier when she was involved in an incident in which she ended up underneath the front wheel of her car.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard evidence that Ms McLoughlin appeared to fall underneath her Nissan Micra as she was clearing frost from the vehicle.
A friend of the deceased, Oscar Rivas, said Ms McLoughlin had visited his home at Cherryville, New Road, Clondalkin on the evening of December 7th, 2022.
Mr Rivas said his friend had struggled with releasing the handbrake of her car when she had picked him up from his workplace.
He said she had also complained of having a pain in her chest and arm as she was putting on the handbrake as she was parking outside his home.
After she had left his house around midnight, Mr Rivas said she saw her car moving backwards before hearing a big bang.
He told coroner Clare Keane that he found his friend unconscious with the front wheel on top of her.
Mr Rivas said he tried to jack the vehicle up but she remained trapped by her clothing which remained under the wheel.
In response to questions from the coroner, he said he was standing near his front door when Ms McLoughlin said she was going to start her car in order to clear her windscreen.
Mr Rivas said the driver’s door was open but he could not state if she had sat in the vehicle.
'Unfortunate accident'
The deceased’s son, Andrew McLoughlin, who gave evidence of formally identifying his mother’s body, told the coroner that his mother had been in good health at the time of the accident.
The inquest heard no mechanical defects were found with the vehicle.
Sergeant Stephen Walsh said it appeared the car had reversed over the victim and then trapped her clothing in what he described as “a very strange and unfortunate accident.”
Sgt Walsh said he believed the car had somehow started to reverse while Ms McLoughlin was in the act of clearing a window.
The inquest heard Ms McLoughin suffered fractures to nine ribs as well as significant bruising to her lungs which affected her breathing.
Dr Keane said a postmortem showed she had suffered devastating crush injuries to the brain and died from blunt force trauma consistent with a vehicular accident.
The coroner returned an open verdict on the basis that she did not have evidence about “the complete sequence of events.”
Second inquest
In the second case, a male motorist suffered fatal crush injuries after becoming trapped between the door of his vehicle and the pillar of his neighbour’s driveway in south Dublin earlier this year.
Richard FitzSimon (86), a father of four from St Martin’s, Old Bray Road, Cabinteely, Co Dublin, died at the scene of the collision on January 18th, 2023.
The victim’s wife, Brigid FitzSimon, told the inquest that her husband had left home that morning at around 9.45am to lodge church collection money at a local bank.
Ms FitzSimon said she looked out a window about five minutes later and saw his automatic Honda Civic parked in a neighbour’s driveway.
When she went outside to find out what was wrong, she discovered the driver’s door of the vehicle open and her husband unconscious with his head resting in the doorframe.
Ms FitzSimon recalled being told a short while after emergency services had arrived at the scene that her husband had passed away.
In reply to questions from coroner Cróna Gallagher, Ms FitzSimon said her husband had been in good health at the time and had been driving his Honda Civic on a regular basis.
She said he was not in the habit of leaving the driver’s door of the vehicle open when reversing.
Ms FitzSimon said she also did not believe that he used their neighbour’s driveway to reverse out of their cul-de-sac.
Garda Michael Murphy gave evidence of finding the Honda Civic parked “obscurely” in a driveway with its engine still running and in reverse gear.
Garda Murphy said the victim’s head was trapped between the driver’s door and a concrete pillar with his right leg pinned under the vehicle.
He said it did not appear that the parking of the car at a strange angle was a deliberate action.
He described giving CPR to Mr FitzSimon and rolling him over on the ground as his airways were blocked.
Another garda witness, Amy Dowdall, said the driver’s left foot was also found on the brake pedal.
Garda Dowdall said it looked like Mr FitzSimon had been attempting to reverse with his passenger door open.
She also speculated that the incident might have occurred if he was trying to get out of the car after stopping the vehicle.
'Mystery'
Garda Dowdall said there were no eyewitnesses to what happened and she agreed with the coroner that it was a “low speed” incident.
Dr Gallagher said post-mortem results showed Mr FitzSimon had died from traumatic crush injuries to his chest.
The inquest heard that Mr FitzSimon, a former international hockey player for Ireland and former captain of Carrickmines Golf Club, had significant heart disease.
However, the coroner said there was no evidence that he had a cardiac event which could have caused the accident.
Dr Gallagher said an examination of the Honda Civic had found no mechanical defects with the vehicle.
Returning a verdict of accidental death, the coroner remarked: “It remains something of a mystery how the accident happened.”
