‘I heard a large scream… I was in utter shock’
Inquest hears how 22-month-old boy died in paddling pool in back garden
A TODDLER died after being found face down in three inches of water in a paddling pool in the back garden of his family home three years ago, an inquest has heard.
The 22-month-old victim, Dáithí O’Grady, died at Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street in Dublin on June 10, 2021, three days after the tragic incident at his home at Glenballythomas, Tulsk, Co. Roscommon.
Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard yesterday that the toddler – the youngest of four children – had been playing on a tractor in the back garden just moments before the accident.
His mother, Hayley O’Grady, said she had been playing with him but had gone inside to the kitchen to put a kettle on.
Although she attended the inquest, Ms O’Grady did not wish to give evidence and asked for her statement to be read out by a court official.
Ms O’Grady recalled that June 7, 2021, had been a warm day and she was playing with Dáithí, while her husband, Richard, was at the front of the house on the phone.
The inquest heard that she had come into the house, while her husband had gone outside to the garden after finishing his call.
Ms O’Grady said she then heard a large scream from him about their son being in the pool. ‘I was in utter shock,’ she said. In a separate statement, Richard O’Grady said their two oldest children were next door with Richard’s father, Gabriel, as it was the Monday of a bank holiday weekend.
He described going outside and finding his son in an unresponsive state in the paddling pool sometime after 11am.
Mr O’Grady said he immediately placed the boy on the ground and tried to resuscitate him before efforts at CPR were taken over by his father, who had arrived from next door.
In evidence, Gabriel O’Grady said he had been alerted to the incident by his daughter-in-law, who had arrived screaming at his home. ‘It was a very traumatic event and an extremely difficult time,’ he said.
Mr O’Grady also claimed the ordeal had been ‘heightened’ by the failure of gardaí to notify his family in advance that they were releasing a statement about the incident to media.
‘We would have appreciated having received prior notice to prepare for and cope with media attention,’ he said.
‘It was a very traumatic event’
Garda witnesses declined to respond to an invitation by the coroner, Aisling Gannon, to comment on the remarks made by Mr O’Grady. The inquest heard that gardaí who attended the scene also provided CPR to the toddler before ambulance crews arrived.
It was heard when ambulance crews got to the scene, they found Dáithí had no pulse and was in a critical condition.
Eoghan Connolly, an air ambulance crew member, said that the boy’s heartbeat was restored after about 30 minutes but he remained unresponsive.
He was transported by helicopter to University Hospital Galway where he arrived at 1.38pm.
A decision was made to transfer him to Dublin later that day.
Garda Mike Dwyer said he had found members of the O’Grady family in an ‘inconsolable’ state at the scene.
He said the boy had been found face down in three inches of water in the paddling pool.
Sergeant Deirdre Coleman said Ms O’Grady was sitting on the ground, crying for her son, while other relatives were ‘distraught and overcome with emotion’.
A consultant at CHI at Temple Street, Aisling Walsh, said the young boy had suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest ‘due to near drowning’.
Dr Walsh said tests had shown he had suffered severe brain damage from a lack of oxygen with some damage also to vital organs.
She told the inquest the boy’s prognosis was poor given the irreversible nature of his brain injuries. The inquest heard a postmortem
‘Very small amount of water’
on the toddler’s body confirmed he had died from a lack of oxygen to the brain as a result of a prolonged cardiac arrest following immersion in water.
Returning an open verdict, Ms Gannon said nobody had seen how the boy got into the paddling pool, although it had occurred over a ‘very short period of time in a very small amount of water’.
The coroner said it was the most appropriate finding rather than a verdict of accidental death due to a lack of information about how Dáithí had entered the water. Ms Gannon offered her condolences and sympathy to members of the O’Grady family on what she noted was ‘a really horrific experience’.