A five-year-old epileptic boy was found to have an unexplained and toxic level of alcohol in his blood when he died, Dublin City Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
The court was unable to establish any explanation from the boy's parents and a Garda witness for the "extraordinarily high" level of ethanol or alcohol found in his blood.
Zimbabwean-born Munyaradzi Charles Goromonzi died on November 22nd, 2001, following an early-morning seizure in his home in Ranelagh, Dublin.
His father, Charles, told the court his son had had a history of seizures since he was three months old, and his condition had been so bad when he was 15 months old that he lost his ability to speak and walk. He said he had been given the impression by doctors in Zimbabwe that his son suffered from epilepsy.
After the family moved to Ireland in January 2000, Munyaradzi was proscribed the anti-convulsive drug, Epilin. On the eve of his death, Mr Goromonzi said, he gave his son his usual dosage of Epilin before putting him to bed at 9 p.m.
At 7 a.m. the next morning he heard Munyaradzi moving around in his room and took him into his bed. He had a seizure and was shaking, and he laid him on his side before falling back to sleep. At 8 a.m. his daughter, Catherine, told him Munyaradzi was "sleeping funny". Mr Goromonzi said his son's lips were blue and he tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him before bringing him to hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11.30 a.m.
Questioned by the coroner, Mr Goromonzi said his son could not feed himself, and he was quite confident he would not take anything on his own. He said there was no alcohol in the house, or other products containing alcohol, such as mouthwash. Sgt John Keane from Donnybrook Garda station said he had found no evidence to explain the alcohol level.
Dr Deirdre Devaney, who carried out a post-mortem on Munyaradzi, said he was well-nourished and had no injuries. A toxicology report showed he had 385mg per cent of ethanol in his blood, a level she described as toxic.
This was a "very unexpected" finding, and such a level of alcohol could cause respiratory depression and fits, she said. There was a therapeutic level of the Epilin medication in Munyaradzi's body, and she had no knowledge that it could be metabolised into ethanol. She said ethanol could be derived from other sources, such as cologne, perfume, aftershave or mouthwash.
The coroner said that in certain post-mortem specimens there could be spontaneous generation of alcohol, but it was very unusual to have such a high level and this would not normally be explained by spontaneous generation. The case was adjourned until May 20th.