A drink bought by a woman for her 13-year-old daughter in a holiday centre was contaminated with a corrosive cleaning fluid, the Circuit Civil Court has heard.
Barrister Harrriet Meagher told the court that Kareena Hoollah, who is now 15, fully recovered from the burning sensation she felt on her tongue about two weeks after the incident.
Judge John O’Connor was told by Kareena’s solicitor Peter Duff, during a virtual hearing of the case, that the incident happened while she and her mother, Babita Hoolah, visited the Trabolgan Holiday Centre in Co Cork.
The court heard that on June 17th, 2018, Ms Hoollah bought her daughter a frozen ice drink known as a Slush Puppy.
Ms Meagher said Kareena took a mouthful of the drink and spat it out after feeling a burning sensation in her mouth. It transpired that the drink had been contaminated with a corrosive cleaning fluid, the court heard.
Corrosion
Counsel said Kareena’s mother tested and swallowed some of the drink and both had to be taken by ambulance from Trabolgan to Cork University Hospital in the early hours of June 18th, 2018, where an accident and emergency doctor noted corrosion on Kareena’s tongue.
Kareena, of The Green, Whitfield Manor, Bettystown, Co Meath, later attended her GP, Dr Vicki Merchant, at Strand Medical Centre in Laytown. Dr Merchant, in a medical report to the court, said Kareena suffered from a burning sensation on her tongue following the incident, especially while eating. The symptoms cleared up within two weeks, she said.
Judge O’Connor heard that Kareena, through her mother, sued Trabolgan Holiday Centre and the Injuries Board assessed her damages at €3,000.
The judge said that although the assessment and subsequent settlement offer were not very generous, he would approve the offer together with District Court costs. Ms Meagher and Mr Duff had both recommended the court’s acceptance of the assessed damages.