Courts

‘Accomplished’ swimmer who sank to bottom gave ‘thumbs up’ sign before bid to rescue him, trial hears

Three lifeguards on trial in Newry on charges arising from death of Christopher Rodgers

Three lifeguards are on trial at Newry Crown Court accused of being in breach of their duty to others
Three lifeguards are on trial at Newry Crown Court accused of being in breach of their duty to others
Paul Higgins
Fri Jan 10 2025 - 16:48

An “accomplished” swimmer who suffered a hypoxic blackout at the bottom of a leisure centre pool had given a fellow swimmer a “thumbs up” sign shortly before an attempt was made to rescue him from the pool, a jury has heard.

Newry Crown Court also heard that when Christopher Rodgers’s mother rushed to Orchard Leisure Centre on April 7th, 2017 and heard what had happened, she told the receptionist “he always does that – he stays under too long”.

Three lifeguards are on trial accused of being in breach of their duty to others in that they “failed to take reasonable care for the health and safety of other persons who may be affected by your acts or omissions at work”. The three men are Cathal Forrest McVeigh (35), from Dunamony Road in Dungannon, William Holden (26), from Unshinagh Lane in Portadown, and James Monaghan (26), from Folly Lane in Armagh.

When the trial was formally opened on Thursday, the jury heard how Mr Rodgers (20) had swum 2½ lengths underwater before he broke the surface. He then “sank to the bottom of the pool”, where he remained for five minutes and 14 seconds.

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Prosecuting counsel Liam McCollum outlined that during that time Mr Holden had been in the high chair at one side of the pool while the other two men had been “engaged in conversation” for two minutes and 20 seconds as the guard duty rotated.

[ Man lay at bottom of pool for more than five minutes while lifeguards stood by chatting, court hears ]

Mr McCollum suggested to the jury that “their job was to guard lives ... their job was to be vigilant for the safety of everybody who was swimming in the pool”.

“The prosecution say that self-evidently, they did not do this job properly because a very long period of time passed between Mr Rodgers hitting the bottom of the pool and any rescue attempt,” he argued.

Giving evidence to the jury on Friday, Wayne Dougan told co-prosecuting KC Geraldine McCullough he had been in the pool at the time and although he did not know Mr Rodgers personally, “I had seen him doing exercises in the pool before and doing breathing exercises under the water”.

He told the senior barrister he was doing lengths but “I thought it was unusual that he was spending so much time under the water so I went over to check on him.

“I waved at him and he put his thumb up to me,” Mr Dougan told the court, adding that after he swam “several more lengths”, he noticed “one of the guards had ran around the pool towards the deep end – he seemed concerned.”

According to the witness, Mr McVeigh “was banging the ladder with a pole ... I asked him do you want me to go and check on him and I think that at the same time, he pointed to Chris to get me to go towards him.

“I swam under the divider of the swimming pool and went under the water over to Chris,” said Mr Dougan. “He seemed to be lifeless.”

He said he surfaced and shouted for help before going back under and then “lifted or dragged Chris to the surface”.

Under cross-examination from Mr McVeigh’s defence counsel, Mr Dougan agreed that while it was a “very traumatic experience” his recollection was that Mr Rodgers gave him a thumbs up before the lifeguard asked him to check on the victim.

He also agreed that Mr Rodgers had been “a very strong swimmer ... who did a lot of underwater training.”

Earlier, retired nurse Matthias Nugent said he had been in the pool as well and had spotted Mr Rodgers holding his breath “stretched out” at the bottom of the pool.

He told the jury he asked one of the lifeguards “if he was aware of this man under the water” and the guard confirmed to him that “he was aware of him being there”.

Later, David Crawford, a qualified lifeguard and trainer and assessor of pool lifeguards, told the court that when one guard is swapping roles with another, any conversation between them should last “a few seconds”.

The trial continues.