STRANGE DEATHS
UNUSUAL WAYS OF SHUFFLING OFF THIS MORTAL COIL
A father was accidentally killed by his son during an outdoor game of ‘slaps’ at a pub, an inquest heard. Malcolm Callender, 48, often played the game with his 18-year- old son Ewan. Mr Callender, Bursar of the prestigious public school Wellington College and a former soldier, had delivered a “stinging” blow to his son and then stood with his hands behind his back saying: “Right, you can have your free shot.” Witnesses described Ewan clenching his fists before giving his father a slap that sent him reeling backward into the road. As Mr Callender lay on the ground, his son was heard shouting: “Wake up dad. I love you.” Although treated in hospital for an acute hæmorrhage, Mr Callender died the next morning, with the cause of death given as “blunt force trauma to the head”.
The teenager wiped away tears as he testified at the inquest, explaining how he had been reluctant to strike his more powerfully-built father, but had “wanted to make his dad proud”. Malcolm Callender had served in the Royal Engineers for 27 years, attaining the rank of captain and later quartermaster. His son Ewan had attempted to follow in his father’s footsteps and spent three years in the Army. His mother Catherine Morrison-Callender, herself an Army veteran, described how the family liked playing physical games: “We would wrestle with each other where we would try to grab the other person and take them to the ground.” When Ewan reached the age of 15, he and his father began to slap each other around the face, Mrs Morrison-Callender explained. “Malcolm would always be winding him up, saying ‘You reckon you can take me yet?’” She said her husband was very competitive and would never allow their son to win.
After his father’s death Ewan was arrested, but 18 months later the Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute, deciding it would not be in the public interest. The coroner’s verdict was one of accidental death as a result of “non-aggressive, not hostile consensual horseplay”. D.Mail, 9 Dec 2020.
At least two people were stabbed to death on Hallowe’en night in Quebec by a man armed with a katana, the traditional singleedged Japanese sword used by samurai, and dressed in mediæval clothing. A witness said the swordsman “was in black clothes, like a ninja”. Five other people were wounded in the Saturday night attack, which occurred in the historic Old Quebec neighbourhood, and a man later identified as Carl Girouard, 24, was arrested shortly before 1am on Sunday morning.
An initial probe found the suspect to be unaffiliated with any extremist groups. Police believe the attack was premeditated, and in a press statement stated that Girouard, who lived in Montreal’s suburbs, had come to Quebec City with “the intention of doing the most damage possible… everything leads us to believe he chose his victims at random.” Girouard had apparently spoken of perpetrating such an attack “in a medical context” (whatever that means) five years ago, but was not known to police and had no criminal record. He was lying on the ground, barefoot and hypothermic, when he was arrested, giving himself up to the police without resistance. BBC News, 1 Nov 2020.
A hunting accident took place at the Duhallow hunt kennels in Co Cork, in which professional huntsman Ger Withers, a married man and father of three young children, was attacked and killed by a pet stag when he went to feed it. Mr Withers was well known in the area, and highly regarded as a skilled huntsman with Old English hounds. A police press statement said gardaí had attended the scene of a workplace accident in Liscarroll, Co. Cork, where a man in his 40s had received fatal injuries. irishexaminer.com, 30 Dec 2020.
Corey Sharpling, a keen dancer aged 21, was killed in a landslip on the A484 between Carmarthen and Cardigan in Wales just after he had stepped off a bus. The incident took place in October 2018 when Storm Callum had been causing high winds and heavy rain in the area. Mr Sharpling was on his way to his parttime job at Macdonalds in Carmarthen when a fallen tree prevented his bus from travelling any further. He alighted and was standing by the roadside watching rescue services as they attempted to clear the road when an entire embankment collapsed. The ensuing landslip swept both him and the lorry away, to be engulfed by debris composed of earth and trees. His body was later found near a river. BBC News, 15 Oct 2018; 5 Feb 2021.