Josh passed away in his ‘happy place’

THE mother of a ten year old boy with autism who drowned in a hot tub at the family home has said she takes comfort from the fact that he died in his happy place.

An inquest hearing into the death of Joshua Hill, Mountain Park, Carlingford found that the boy drowned, with coroner Ronan Maguire BL saying that the only possible verdict was accidental death.

His mother Olivia described how on July 10 last she had put Josh to bed at 7.30pm. It would always take him some time to settle and at 9.30pm she told him to go back to bed. She checked him when she was going to bed around 10pm.

She woke the next morning at 7am and found that Josh wasn’t in his room. She went downstairs to the kitchen and went into the garden where the lid of the hot tub was half open. She saw her son face down in the water and carried him into the kitchen, where she started CPR and phoned 999.

‘I was in complete shock, I don’t remember much more,’ she said in her deposition.

The emergency services arrived and despite efforts by advanced paramedics to revive Josh, he was pronounced dead at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda at 8.38pm.

The inquest heard that Joshua had been diagnosed with autism and spoke with a limited vocabulary. He was a very confident swimmer, who could swim the length of the pier in Carlingford and had swam for hours when the family lived in the Bahamas.

They’d had the hot tub installed for him and he used it every day.

‘Water was his thing. It kept him calm and happy,’said his mother, adding that she got comfort form knowing that he died in his happy place.

Pathologist Dr John Ryan who carried out the post-mortem said that death was due to drowning. He added a secondary finding that Joshua had severe autism which didn’t directly cause his death but was of significance.

In response to his parents who asked if perhaps Joshua had suffered from a seizure, he said he had watched the cctv footage which made distressing viewing. He didn’t see any evidence of their son having a seizure, as he seemed to slip down into the water.

Father Peter asked if it was possible that Joshua could have fainted, he said it was but he just didn’t know.

Returning a verdict of accidental death, coroner Mr Ronan Maguire extended his heartfelt sympathy to Joshua’s family.