Daughter tells of finding her father after fatal stairs fall

AN Australian tourist died after he fell down stairs and banged his head after a night out with his family.

An inquest into the death of Raymond Martin heard that the 62-year-old from Adelaide had come to Ireland with his wife Ruth and his family, in July last year.

He had been staying in Ardara, Co. Donegal, and had enjoyed a night out in nearby Doherty’s Bar on the evening of July 14.

His daughter, Kayleigh, told the inquest at Letterkenny Courthouse that she was woken by a loud thud.

She found her father at the bottom of the stairs and he had blue all over his eyes, but they were shut. ‘I called out to him but there was nothing. I tried to get a pulse but I couldn’t because I was panicking. I screamed out for my mum,’ she said.

She woke her mother and they used a number of tea-towels to try to stem the bleeding. An ambulance arrived a half an hour later and her father was taken to Letterkenny University Hospital. However, he died the following morning.

Pathologist Dr Hajmalka Gyorffy said he had two lacerations to his scalp and bleeding on the brain. Alcohol was also a factor.

Detective Garda Gráinne McLoone said there was nothing suspicious about the circumstances. Coroner Dr Denis McCauley found it was death by misadventure and said it was a particularly sad case, as the family were so far away from home.