A man who had boiling water thrown over him as he watched television while residing in a hostel for homeless people in Dublin has lost his High Court action for damages.
Ms Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon found the Salvation Army had not failed in its duty of care and was not liable for the injuries sustained by Mark Inglis when he was attacked by a fellow resident at the Salvation Army’s premises for homeless men at York House, Longford Street.
What happened in this case was not a common occurrence and it shocked the hostel staff, the judge said.
Mr Inglis, from Aldershot, England, suffered burns to his face, chest, abdomen and legs and had to spend more than two weeks in St James’s Hospital’s burns unit after the incident of August 21st, 2010.
He told the court he had been living at the York House premises for about nine months because he was desperate and had nowhere to go. He said the lights went out in the hostel’s TV room and a kettle of boiling water was thrown at him.
Reasonable care
Mr Inglis sued the Salvation Army, Dublin, as a result of the attack. He alleged failure to take any or any reasonable care to ensure he would be safe in using the premises, among other claims.
The Salvation Army denied the claims and also pleaded Mr Inglis’s claims he had complained to staff of threats of violence from the other resident were untrue.
In her judgment, Ms Justice O’Hanlon said the system in place at the hostel was in line with their own procedures and the court considered the assault was certainly not foreseeable.
The court did not accept Mr Inglis had made complaints of having being threatened by the other resident prior to the incident, she said. It found the Salvation Army witnesses evidence more credible, the judge added.
The Salvation Army had taken reasonable care for the safety of Mr Inglis and had in place a system well monitored and recorded to deal with any incidents as they occurred in relation to those who used their facilities, she held.