Brother says he does not accept inquest’s findings into fatal fire
A VERDICT of accidental death was recorded in the inquest of a man who died in a fire in Clonroche last year despite the objections of his brother.
During the inquest into the death of Robert (Bobby) Rochford (76), 5 The Villas, Clonroche, county coroner Dr Sean Nixon said that the inquest had been opened and adjourned in April of this year where medical evidence had been given.
He said Mr Rochford had died from severe burns all over his entire body as a result of a house fire on October 26, 2016.
It had been adjourned on that occasion pending an investigation which had now concluded.
Garda Diarmuid Burke said he received a call that there was a house fire in Clonroche. On arrival he saw a house on fire and it was believed that there was a person inside.
After the firemen were able to enter the house the body of Mr Rochford was found and was removed to University Hospital Waterford.
Inspector Sean Clince read the deposition of Tom Furlong of 3, The Villas, Clonroche into evidence. He said the previous evening, October 25, Mr Rochford had called to his back door looking for €2 for cigarettes which Mr Furlong gave him.
The deposition of Lorraine Kelly, 27 Canon Murphy Park, Clonroche, was also read into evidence. In it she said at 9.20 a.m. on October 26 she was driving into The Villas when she was black smoke over the trees and saw Mr Rochford’s house was on fire. She could see a mattress standing up by the window as well as flames. Her uncle’s home is beside Mr Rochford’s and on entering his house she saw smoke in it too and she was afraid it would go on fire.
Mary Lambert of 10 Canon Murphy Park also gave a deposition which read that on October 25, the day before the fire, Mr Rochford called to her home at around 4.30 p.m. for his dinner as was his practice.
He left at about 5.30 p.m. before returning at 8.30 p.m. for a cup of tea leaving again at around 11.30 p.m.
She said he didn’t appear drunk or in bad form.
The following morning at 9.20 a.m. he rang her and said he wouldn’t be up for his dinner as he was going to Bunclody. This was unusual for him and she asked him why he was going but he didn’t answer and the phone went dead. She said she didn’t think he was drunk or drinking and shortly after got a call to say his house was ablaze.
The deposition of Martin Kelly, 27, Canon Murphy Park, the father of Lorraine Kelly, was also read into evidence. He said Lorraine had rang him to say Mr Rochford’s house was on fire and he contacted Jim Redmond to go there.
On arrival he tried to get in the back door but it was locked as was the front door. He went back around to the back of the house and was joined by a postman who found a bar and broke the window of the back door but they still couldn’t get in.
The front door was tried again but he said the smoke at the front of the house was a lot thicker than at the back of the house.
He said there were flames coming out the window and the postman then broke the glass of the door but they couldn’t even see in the door because of the smoke.
In his deposition fire-fighter Noel Warren said he had located the body of Mr Rochford in a front bedroom to the right of the hallway. He said his body was under mattresses and was badly burnt.
Garda Pat Frayne of the Scenes of Crime Unit read his own deposition into court.
He said all the rooms had fire damage and Mr Rochford’s body appeared to by lying on two mattresses with another on top of him. He said the starting point of the fire appeared to be low down near the mattresses.
Dr Nixon said that while the fire had started in the front room, there had been no identifiable cause of it.
At that point Mr Rochford’s brother Paddy stood up and said he disagreed entirely with the findings saying the fire was electrical and ‘not caused by a match or cigarette or anything else’.
He claimed the HSE had done up the house some 10 to 12 years previously adding new wiring and putting double sockets in each room. He said the old fuse box was left in the house which had two fuses - one for lights and one for sockets.
He claimed all the new wiring in the house had burnt while the old had remained intact.
‘I’m not happy with the findings of the inquest’, he said.
He said his brother had been on the phone to Mary Lambert and there had been no fire in the room. He said when he opened the door it created a back-draft spreading the fire.
Paddy Rochford said he examined the house after his brother’s death and said the reason he was objecting to the findings was because similar work had been carried out in other homes and he wanted to make sure nobody else died.
‘I wasn’t close to my brother’, he said, ‘ but it’s horrible to think he was on the phone, then bang’.
Some members of Mr Rochford’s family got up and left the inquest at the juncture.
Paddy Rochford continued ‘you can’t just put down any verdict you like’.
Dr Nixon said he had heard Mr Rochford’s concerns, adding he was recommending a verdict of accidental death.
Mr Rochford continued to interrupt Dr Nixon who told him he would remove him from the court.
When approached by gardai, Mr Rochford, who was still standing up, said ‘get away from me. I’m not here to start a row.’
Dr Nixon asked him to put his feelings in writing.
Paddy Rochford then asked Garda Frayne if he was happy with his own report ‘even thought now you must know it’s wrong’ and Garda Frayne said he was sticking to his findings.
Approached again by gardai Mr Rochford said ‘I’m going to walk out of here’.
Dr Nixon said he was recommending accidental death due to burning in a house fire. ‘ The only reason I’m here’, said Mr Rochford ‘is because these electricians have done other houses’. He then left the court.
The jury of six men returned a verdict of accidental death and Dr Nixon extended his sympathy to the members of the Rochford family on their very sad and tragic loss.
Inspector Clince and jury foreman Seamus Whelan also extended sympathy to the family on behalf of the gardai and jury respectively.
Another member of the Rochford family apologised to the court for Paddy Rochford’s outburst and also apologised to individual gardai after the court.