A 12 YEAR OLD Dublin boy "paid for his thrill with his life" when he was electrocuted by a 10,000 volt electricity cable last March, according to Dublin county coroner, Dr Bartley Sheehan. William Carey was killed when he touched a wire that had been thrown over the cables in an isolated area where children played.
Yesterday, an inquest recorded a verdict of death by misadventure in the case of William from the Wellview area of Mulhuddart.
The court heard that on Saturday, March 23rd, William and two friends, Steven Brennan and Thomas Doyle, went to the area near Lady's Well Park that the children called the Frog's Pond.
In a statement to Garda Michael O'Sullivan from Blanchardstown, Thomas said he told William not to touch the wire.
He said one of the other children in the neighbourhood had burnt his hands on the wire a week previously. They knew it was dangerous. "Next thing I could see sparks flying everywhere from his face and his hands." Thomas said he ran to get help and William appeared to be still breathing.
Garda O'Sullivan said William was thrown to the ground with the force of the shock.
The pathologist found that William died from electrocution and had electrical burns on his face neck and fingertips.
"I said don't touch it," Steven Brennan said. "Thomas also said `don't touch it', cause I knew it was dangerous. I just knew because it was electricity."
Another child, Christopher Brennan (9), had burned his face and neck the day before the accident when the wire brushed him as he ran by. His mother, Ms Kathleen Brennan, said he had come home with burn marks. "I didn't think myself it was electricity. That's why I didn't report it."
ESB operations engineer, Mr Dominic O'Brien, went to the scene after the accident. He described the hanging line as a length of plastic coated wire tied to a small branch which was left about a metre from the ground.
He said the distance between the ESB line and the ground was in accordance with ESB minimum standards of 5.2 metres.
"Someone had thrown it up. It was a trap for somebody. The material thrown up was electric fence conductor and it was conducting electricity."
Dr Sheehan said there could have been an element of the daredevil, despite being warned not to touch the cable. "The sad thing is that a day before other children had received shocks and the ESB was not informed. It's too much to expect small boys to be warned off every possible thrilling thing."
