A man found dead at his home in Buncrana six years ago died from cardiac arrest brought on by excessive drinking and untreated injuries sustained in a road traffic collision the day before his death.
Father-of-one Ricardis Loveikis was found unresponsive with unexplained injuries to his body at his home at Oakfield Close shortly after 6pm on the evening of Sunday, March 18, 2018.
The 47-year-old Lithuanian native, who had lived in Inishowen for more than a decade and worked at E&I Engineering in Burnfoot, was pronounced dead a short time later.
After hearing all the facts at an inquest in Buncrana Courthouse, Coroner Dr Denis McCauley ruled that Mr Loveikis’ death was an accident. There was no evidence of any foul play.
Deputy State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan, who carried out a post mortem, had found that the deceased’s injuries, which included a severly fractured arm and a dislocated shoulder, were not consistent with an assault. She also found that he was acutely intoxicated at the time of death.
Gardai investigated the incident and also ruled out any criminality in the death.
They found that Mr Loveikis’ was likely involved in a minor road traffic collision at the Slab Road, Burnfoot on the night of March 17, 2018. He did not seek medical help for his injuries however and subsequently succumbed to sudden heart failure at home approximately eighteen hours later, following a period of heaving drinking.
Coroner McCauley described it as a “chaotic and confusing situation” that was professionally investigated and handled by the guards. He is satisfied that the death was not suspicious.
“Initially the Garda members were quite rightly confused and therefore concerned in relation to the circumstances of this gentleman’s death,” Dr McCauley said.
“But the trauma was not suggestive of an assault and the guards do not think it was a criminal act.”
“The cause of death was a cardiac arrhythmia as a result of pre-existing alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy in the presence of acute trauma and alcohol intoxication,” the Coroner ruled.
Sergeant Graham Morgan testified how he had been driving the Buncrana patrol car on Sunday, March 18, 2018, accompanied by Garda Eoghan Reid, when an emergency call came in.
“At 6.20pm we received a call that a male had collapsed at his house at 41 Oakfield Close, Buncrana, and that he had suffered a heart-attack.”
They arrived at the scene ten minutes later and observed a male standing outside the door and just inside, in a small utility room, there was another male who appeared to be performing CPR resuscitation on the stricken man.
“There was a male lying unconscious on the floor of the utility room. There was a voice coming from a mobile phone that was on loudspeaker and it was a female talking another male through the CPR.”
“The male performing the CPR began to tire so I took over administering CPR,” Sgt Morgan explained.
“The utility room was extremely narrow, rendering it difficult to carry out checks on the male so I continued administering CPR.”
“After a short period of time fire brigade and ambulance crews arrived at the scene. They moved the male into the kitchen and checked his vital signs. They said the male was dead for some time, his body was cold and rigor mortis had set in.”
Sgt Morgan said he then began to take details of the people at the scene, while also identifying the deceased man as Ricardis Loveikis, via a driving licence in the house.
The other two men at the house were both of Eastern European origin too, living locally.
“The male performing the CPR stated that he last saw Ricardis Loveikis between 6pm and 7pm on March 17 and that he had arrived at his home that evening [March 18] at approximately 6.15pm.”
“He had known the deceased male for five years. He arrived at the house and upon opening the side door he found him on his side on the floor of the utility room and he rang the emergency services.”
The inquest heard that Mr Loveikis was wearing black work trousers, black shoes, a black E&I Engineering t-shirt and a cream coat when he was found on the floor.
At 7.10pm Superintendent Kelly was contacted and Buncrana priest Fr John Walsh was also contacted, arriving at the scene a few minutes later.
Sgt Morgan said he took note of the visible marks on Mr Loveikis’ body. He had a small scratch on his left cheek, a bruise on his chin, a scratch on his nose, small scratches on his face and hands. His hip was visible and he had marks on his left hip too.
“I carried out a check of the house, it was tidy and there were no signs of a struggle,” he said.
“Friends at the scene informed me that Mr Loveikis was a big drinker, that he drank a lot of vodka and that he worked for E&I Engineering at Burnfoot.”
He was pronounced dead at 7.25pm.
Meanwhile Garda Eoghan Reid, Buncrana Garda Station, told the inquest how he also recalled “a number of marks” on the body and how he identified Ricardis Loveikis to the Deputy State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan at Letterkenny University Hospital the following morning.
Dr Catriona Dillon presented a summary of Dr Mulligan’s post mortem findings to the inquest.
She said there were numerous scratches and bruising on his body. There was an injury to the left side of the chest, with a large area of purple bruising, a fracture deformity of the left shoulder and red patches on the skin of both knees.
There was a fractured sternum and fractured ribs in keeping with resuscitation related injuries, however there were also other broken ribs, with extensive associated soft tissue haemorrhage, which did not appear to be related to resuscitation.
She said there was complete fracture of the upper arm, with downward displacement from the shoulder joint. This was associated with extensive soft tissue bleeding throughout the upper arm and left chest area.
Dr Mulligan also found that Mr Loveikis had an enlarged heart and was acutely intoxicated at the time of his death, with a reading of 263 microgrammes of alcohol per decilitre, which is four times the drink-drive limit.
The deceased had signs of severe blunt force trauma to the left side of the chest and the left upper arm, severe fracture-dislocation of the shoulder and fractures of the left ribs, which may have restricted his breathing prior to death.
These injuries also resulted in large amounts of bleeding around the left shoulder joint, left upper arm and in the soft tissues of the left chest. These factors would have placed a strain on his already susceptible heart, the inquest heard.
She ruled that all of these injuries may have been sustained during a vehicular accident or a severe fall. They were not consistent with assault type injuries.
The inquest heard that none of the injuries were severe enough to cause death and that if medical treatment had been sought in a timely fashion death may have been prevented.
Dr Mulligan said the deceased could have been lying unconscious for a period of time before he died, while red patches on both knees indicated that an element of hypothermia couldn’t be ruled out.
Excess alcohol intake had also compromised his ability to clot and may have led to more excessive bleeding than in a normal healthy individual.
Coroner McCauley explained that Mr Loveikis’ enlarged heart had left him at risk, while his alcohol intoxication and very significant injuries, which caused enormous additional stress on the body, had further exacerbated his condition.
“At any stage his enlarged heart could have gone into arrhythmia and he could have died.”
“He had significant trauma which caused stress to his body and then the high alcohol level at the time of his death made the heart more receptive to having an arrhythmia.”
Following the medical evidence, Coroner McCauley asked Sgt Morgan to explain more details about the road traffic collision at the Slab Road the night before the death.
There was no one at the scene when Gardai arrived at the Slab Road, Burnfoot but there was a crashed van there, which they were able to connect to Mr Loveikis.
“The registered owner of that vehicle was the person who found Mr Loveikis,” Sgt Morgan said.
“We then started an investigation to see if Mr Loveikis was possibly in that vehicle at the time of the crash.”
The guards gathered witness statements and CCTV, while also using DNA and footprint analysis, but they all proved inconclusive.
“We were always surmising that he was there but we never actually pinpointed that he was in the vehicle at the time of that collision,” Sgt Morgan said.
The inquest heard that neither the driver-side nor passenger door of the van could have been opened following the collision and it’s possible that Mr Loveikis fell onto his shoulder when making his way out.
“There was quite a large drop to the ditch. Any driver or passenger would have had to climb out the window. Our hypothesis is that he possibly fell from the van. It was quite a low speed impact and it was also an extremely cold night.”
Sgt Morgan said Gardai had ruled out any element of assault or foul play – and that it was “more likely than not” that Mr Loveikis sustained his injuries from the crash [or fall] the night before his death.