An Australian tourist died after he fell down some stairs and banged his head after a night out with his family.
An inquest into the death of Raymond Martin heard how the 62-year-old from Adelaide had come to Ireland with his wife Ruth and family in July last year.
Mr Martin had been staying in Ardara, Co Donegal and had enjoyed a night out in nearby Doherty’s Bar on the Portnoo Road on the evening of July 14th.
Mr Martin’s daughter Kayleigh told the inquest at Letterkenny Courthouse how she was awoken by a loud thud.
She found her father at the bottom of the stairs of the house and he had blue all over his eyes but his eyes 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.
Ms Martin, from Christies Beach, Adelaide, managed to waken her mum and they tried to use a number of tea-towels to stem the bleeding.
An ambulance arrived a half an hour later and Mr Martin was taken to Letterkenny University Hospital but passed away the following morning.
Pathologist Dr Hajmalka Gyorffy said Mr Martin has two lacerations to his scalp and also had a lot of bleeding on the brain.
She added that alcohol was also a factor in Mr Martin’s death.
Detective Garda Grainne McLoone said she had investigated the death and there was nothing suspicious about the circumstances.
Coroner Dr Denis McCauley said this was a particularly sad case as it happened when the Martin family were so far from home.
“We had a family out for an evening and something happened that resulted in the death of their husband and dad. But we also have an inquest that is taking place when the family is not here and that adds stress to the situation,” he said.
He found that death was due to a bleed on the brain caused by a fall and returned a finding of death by misadventure.
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