A VERDICT of accidental death was returned at an inquest yesterday into the death of man whose car was struck by a horse that crushed the roof of his car on January 30th, 2008.
The jury urged in its recommendation that all those in charge of livestock should take measures to ensure that they do not escape and go on to public roads.
John Rogers (40), St Ronan’s Villas, Dromiskin, Co Louth, was driving a Nissan Micra car when the collision occurred at about teatime at Commons Road, Dromiskin.
Dundalk Coroner’s Court heard that gardaí were on their way to the area after receiving calls about horses being on the road when the incident occurred.
A GP pronounced Mr Rogers dead at the scene at 6.40pm and a postmortem revealed he suffered fatal skull fractures.
The deceased was a full-time carer for his father and was the only person in the car.
Gardaí found horse hairs on the damaged parts of the car and coroner Ronan Maguire was told that four horses were found in the area and one was badly injured.
Garda Sgt Seamus Walsh said the car had been on its correct side of the road and a horse had gone across the front of it and crushed the roof.
The coroner found the incident was as a result of a collision with a horse and the jury returned a verdict of accidental death.