Sibling died after row with younger brother, inquest told

A teenager died of injuries he sustained in a row with his younger brother while watching a rugby match, an inquest heard.

The 18-year-old sustained a blow to the side of the head that resulted in a fatal brain injury. The two brothers were at the family home in the midlands when a row erupted during the Wales versus Fiji match on October 1st, 2015.

The younger brother called for quiet when his mother entered the room while the match was on. The elder brother spoke up in defence of his mother, Dublin Coroner’s Court heard.

The pair exchanged words and there was some pushing between them when the older brother picked up a stool and held it in the air. The younger brother struck the older one “two or three punches” before their father stepped in.

“It was over in seconds. Around twenty minutes later he complained of a headache and said he was feeling unwell. I told him to lie down and take some panadol,” said the boys’ father.

“He squared up to me and I struck him in the face, twice in the same place, with my fist,” said the younger brother in his deposition. He was not present in court.

“Dad said ‘that was stupid’ and I shouldn’t have done it . . . I don’t know why I hit him, it was just a reaction. Straight away I asked myself, ‘why did I do that’?”

The court heard that the 18-year-old began to feel unwell about 20 minutes later.

“He said he was not feeling well. He looked unwell, he was leaning against the wall . . . He said to me, ‘will you ring ambulance?’ ”

Rapid deterioration

When paramedics arrived and spoke to him the teenager told them, “I’m in bits.”

“He was talking and making sense when we arrived but he deteriorated quickly. His level of consciousness began to drop,” said the paramedic.

The youth was taken to hospital and later transferred to Beaumont Hospital where he died three days later.

A postmortem revealed he had an unusually thin skull, a congenital condition often referred to as eggshell skull. State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy said the injury was caused by a glancing blow to the side of the head, the thinnest part of the skull, which was less than 1mm thick.

“It was a simple strike to the left side of the head. It wasn’t even a direct blow; it was a glancing blow that caught the left side of his head,” said Prof Cassidy.

The blow resulted in a skull fracture which caused a tear in a blood vessel that resulted in a haemorrhage.

“The force caused the bone fragment to cut into the blood vessel and the bleeding caused pressure to build up inside his head,” said Prof Cassidy.

The cause of death was head injury in association with a congenitally thin skull. The jury returned a narrative verdict.