A 35-year-old English woman holidaying with her family in Co Mayo sustained fatal head injuries when she fell down the stairs of an Airbnb after getting out of bed to check on a crying child, an inquest was told on Monday.
Jessie Lawrence, with an address at Orchard Way, Stratford-upon-Avon, was rushed to Mayo University Hospital on after falling down stairs at the guest accommodation in Cong where she and her partner, Graeme Toney and her two daughters, Orlagh and Rhonagh, aged four and six, were staying.
Garda Pat Coen gave evidence to Monday’s inquest that Ms Lawrence died in the intensive care unit of Mayo University Hospital on August 18 following the fall some days earlier.
Garda Coen said Mr Toney told him one of the children had been crying in the night. He heard a shout and the noise of “a tumble” down the stairs.
Ms Lawrence was found at the bottom of the stairs.
Dr Tamas Nemeth said cause of death was brain herniation due to traumatic brain injuries.
In a statement to gardaí following the tragedy, Graeme Toney said one of his daughters had been crying and he heard Jessie falling down the stairs.
“I heard the creak of the banister and the thump on the stairs, which really wakened me”, Mr. Toney said in his statement.
He added he then found Jessie lying at the bottom of the stairs, “bleeding from the head”.
He then rang 999.
Following the death, gardaí carried out an extensive examination of the property where the fall occurred and found no evidence of foul play or third-party involvement.
The court heard a number of Ms Lawrence’s organs — her liver and kidneys — were donated.
After returning a verdict of accidental death, Coroner for the District of Mayo Pat O’Connor noted the organ donation, saying that it had been a very noble gesture on the part of the deceased’s family.
“It is one of the most noble things a family can agree to do,” he said.
He added: “Words cannot express the worry and trauma for the partner, their children and other family members.”
