A 21-year-old from Northern Ireland, who died after suffering cardiac arrest following a night out in Dublin, was found to have an “extremely high” blood-alcohol level after “chugging” from a bottle of vodka, an inquest has heard.
Ryan Roberts had been working in construction in Dublin, travelling back and forth from his family home in Omagh, Co Tyrone at the time of a Christmas work night out in Dublin city on November 30th, 2023.
The group of workers, including Mr Roberts, had begun drinking at about 5pm before travelling to Camden Street and attending several late bars.
Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard that at one of the bars, one of Mr Robert’s colleagues Michael Curtin recalled seeing him holding his chest while standing at the bar as though he was in pain but “came around” after several minutes.
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In his deposition Mr Curtin, who did not attend the hearing on Monday afternoon, said Mr Roberts had been drinking vodka with Red Bull “all night”.
The group left the bar at about 3am and walked back to an Airbnb after failing to get a taxi. They then continued drinking, during which Mr Curtin recalled Mr Roberts “chugging” from a litre bottle of vodka, which the inquest heard was about half full.
Mr Curtin said he told him to stop, to which he claimed Mr Roberts replied: “I bet you £100 I will not be sick.”
He said another colleague tried to take the bottle from him, “but he just put it on his head”, before finishing the bottle.
Mr Roberts slid across the counter and fell to the floor about 15 minutes later, he said, and was subsequently brought to his bed and placed in the recovery position at about 5am.
About three hours or so later, Mr Curtin checked on him and discovered that he was unresponsive, “stiff, and his lips were blue” before calling for an ambulance.
Mr Roberts had suffered two episodes of cardiac arrest, the second of which occurred while he was being transported to St James’s Hospital.
He was transferred to the intensive care unit, with investigations finding multiple organ failure and a “devastating” hypoxic-ischemic brain injury sustained from a lack of oxygen due to the cardiac arrests.
Despite “aggressive” interventions, he continued to deteriorate and was commenced on palliative care before dying on December 2nd.
Postmortem toxicology results found evidence of cocaine use, alongside a blood-alcohol level of 458mg per cent, described by coroner Dr Clare Keane as “extremely high” and “really close to the lethal range”.
The brain injury, in the context of mixed alcohol and cocaine toxicity, was ultimately the cause of his death.
A verdict of misadventure was recorded by Dr Keane who described it as a “shocking and tragic death”, saying it occurred following a night that was supposed to be a “celebration and appreciation for Christmas”.
