A GARDA HAS given a moving account of a personal tragedy when his baby son was killed at home. The 22-month-old boy sustained a fatal head injury when he pulled out the bottom drawer of a piece of furniture in his parents’ room, causing the TV set to fall on him.
Baby Jack Davin, Firhouse, Dublin, was with his parents in their bedroom when the tragedy occurred on November 20th, 2007.
Bernard Davin, a detective garda at the Special Branch Detective Unit at Harcourt Square, told an inquest into his son’s death at Dublin City Coroner’s Court yesterday that as he walked out of their bathroom, he could see Jack, whom he described as a loving little boy, pulling out the bottom drawer of a chest of drawers on which a 32in television set was sitting.
“As I walked towards Jack I could see the unit falling towards Jack. I shouted ‘No’ and lunged forward to stop the unit and the TV from falling on Jack. As I shouted Jack looked at me, but I couldn’t save him. I was one second short of catching the TV, but it hit him on the front of his head. With that, the unit, which was extremely heavy had fallen on him also.”
The toddler was immediately knocked unconscious and was bleeding from his left ear.
The devastated father said that he and his wife, Lorraine, at that point, “nearly lost our minds and panicked”, but he rang 999 and the special detective unit.
“We were both crying and asking God to look after him and get an ambulance.”
Jack was taken to Tallaght Hospital, but surgeons decided not to operate because he was too badly brain-damaged. He was transferred to Temple Street Children’s Hospital where he died two days later, after his kidneys had been harvested for organ donation.
“The doctors were fantastic. I knew they could do nothing for him, but they loved him and took care of him as best they could until God took him.”
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said it was one of the most tragic incidents he had heard. He recorded a verdict of accidental death. “I find it very difficult to know what to say to you. Any words of mine seem to be totally irrelevant, but our thoughts are with you both and your family.”
The Davins have a daughter, Kate, who was six months old at the time of the accident.