A MAN warned a bartender he intended to "do something stupid" just hours before he walked into the pub smelling of petrol and set fire to himself, an inquest was told yesterday.
Mr Joseph McCallig (30), of Byrne Avenue, Prospect, Limerick, died from burns after setting himself alight in Willie's Pub at Edward Street, Limerick, on September 27th 1995.
The barman, Mr Dermot" Blake, told the inquest in Cork that Mr McCallig had been in the pub four days earlier and had been asked to leave after he began annoying two other customers. He returned on September 27th, and was smelling of petrol. "He said he was going to do something he was going to regret - something stupid. I said, "Don't do it - there are children upstairs, but he just lit the lighter and said `~~~good luck'. He set fire to his arm - the flames engulfed his body and he fell back against the door and that caught fire too," said Mr Blake.
Mr Blake put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. Mr McCallig was taken to Limerick Regional Hospital and was transferred to Cork University, Hospital, where he died on September 28th.
Dr Catherine Keohane, pathologist, said Mr McCallig suffered burns to 68 per cent of his body, including his face, upper limbs, chest and back. He died from pulmonary congestion and oedema related to shock and major burns. The inquest was told Mr McCallig had returned from Australia six weeks earlier, and was experiencing marital difficulties.