A man who has sued over allegedly suffering life-changing injuries due to falling from the third floor bedroom window of a Kinsale hotel has denied he jumped out the window after a row with his partner.
"I am not going to jump out of a window because my partner was p***ed off because I ate her starter," Jason Platt said. There was "no row, no raised voices and no screaming", he added.
He was being cross-examined by John Lucey SC, who put to Mr Platt his girlfriend Christine McKenna had told gardaí he jumped from the window of the Old Bank House, Pearse Street, on February 15th, 2009, after they had an argument and she initially did not go to the hospital with Mr Platt.
“I did not jump,” Mr Platt said.
Tuesday was the second day of his High Court action over the incident, as a result of which he claims he sustained life-changing injuries.
Mr Platt (43), from Liverpool, was in Kinsale for a St Valentine’s weekend with Ms McKenna, and claims he was at the window flicking ash from a cigarette because he was in a no smoking bedroom when he fell out the window.
The hotel owners have claimed Mr Platt threw himself from the window following a heated argument with Ms McKenna. The two had gone to a Chinese restaurant earlier that evening and Ms McKenna returned to the hotel before Mr Platt, the court has heard.
‘Trying to blow smoke’
In evidence, Mr Platt said he was smoking and had opened the right side of the third floor window and was “trying to blow smoke so no alarm would go off”.
He said he was leaning towards the window trying to flick cigarette ash away from the window when he lost his balance. “All I remember is just going out the window,” he said.
The court heard Mr Platt had landed on the pitched roof of a post office building below. He suffered fractures to his spine, hip and thigh as well as several rib fractures and was transferred to a Liverpool hospital after three weeks.
He has sued OBH Luxury Accommodation Ltd with offices at Pearse Street, Kinsale and company director Ciaran Fitzgerald as a result of the incident.
He alleges failure to provide him with a safe hotel room and to have appropriate restraining mechanisms or safety bars fitted to the hotel windows.
As a result of his injuries, Mr Platt has claimed he is unable to live independently and has to use crutches and a wheelchair.
The defendants deny the claims and plead Mr Platt threw himself from the window, was guilty of contributory negligence and failed to exercise any care for his own safety.
The case continues before Mr Justice Bernard Barton.