A 20 years old man died instantly when the scrambler bike he was using – which had no brakes or lights – crashed into metal cabling in the grounds of NUIG last summer, an inquiry into his death heard.
The pathologist, who carried out a post mortem examination after the crash, said that the fatal injuries would not have been apparent to ambulance staff at the scene.
Martin McDonagh, of 12 Tulach Ard, Circular Road, was with his brother, Tommy, and other friends when the accident occurred at the NUIG playing fields in Dangan on July 31 last year.
The Inquest heard that Tommy had purchased the 250cc Kawasaki scrambler bike online from the website adverts.ie. It was priced at €150, but he had struck a deal with the seller to accept an exchange of motorbikes instead. He felt it had been a good move, he said, as his bike, a 150cc Lincon, would not even start.
He, his brother, and friends tried it out in their estate, and then went to nearby Carn Ard. However, they were concerned that they would be reported to Gardaí, so decided to go somewhere that they would not be seen.
They wheeled the bike over to Dangan Sportsground, and again they took turns driving the bike up and down the pitch.
Tommy recalled that it was dark when Martin took off again on another go, then he heard a noise, and saw the netting of the goalposts fall. His brother was lifeless on the ground.
He rang his father, Anthony, straight away. Anthony and his wife were in bed when they received the call and had not realised how serious the situation was. They contacted Gardaí, and went straight to the scene.
Martin’s mother, Mary, said that it took longer for the emergency services to arrive than her son who came from Ballybane, and she said they went through the motions in a bid to save him, but that she knew it was too late.
The paramedics actually happened to be on duty in Loughrea at the time, and did not arrive until 11.01pm. They parked at the barrier into the private grounds and made their way to the casualty on foot. They found Martin McDonagh with significant facial trauma.
Garda Sandra Waldron said that the whole area was in darkness but for the lights from the mobile phones of those at the scene. She noted a strong metal cable securing an ESB pole which she believed had caused Mr McDonagh’s fatal injuries.
He was taken to nearby UHG, where he was pronounced dead shortly after midnight on August 1.
PSV Inspector, Sgt Anthony McHugh, examined the motorbike later that day and stated that it had no registration plates, no lights, no brakes, and had numerous defects. He concluded that it was in a dangerously defective condition at the time of the accident.
Consultant Pathologist, Dr Aoife Canney, carried out the post mortem examination on the remains, and found that the blood/ethanol level in his system would have put him well over the legal limit to drive had he been on the public road.
She said that the victim had suffered multiple traumatic injuries to his head and agreed with the Coroner that injuries of this severity would lead to instantaneous death.
“A lot of the injuries were not apparent until I performed an internal examination,” she added.
Coroner for West Galway, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence that death was due to cardiac arrest caused by severe traumatic brain injury in a motorcycle collision.
He recorded the date of death as July 31, even though Mr McDonagh had not actually been pronounced dead until the following day, and the place of death as NUIG sportsground.
He offered his sincere sympathies to the young man’s family and friends on the tragic and untimely circumstances of his death.
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