A co Tipperary man who fell asleep beside a radiator in a rented cottage after a New Year's Eve party has told the High Court he awoke to find his clothes on fire. Mr Sean Connolly (28), of Gortlandroe, Nenagh, said that as a result of the burns to his back and side, which he sustained at the cottage on January 1st, 1994, he had spent three weeks in hospital during which he was in considerable pain. He received a skin graft to his right side under the armpit. It was five months before he had a good night's sleep and a year before he was able to have a shower, he said.
In an action against Rent an Irish Cottage Ltd, he is claiming a radiator in a cottage rented by his brother for the New Year's Eve party at Puckane, Co Tipperary, was defective and/or dangerous and that the company had failed to make the heater safe for persons renting the cottage.
The company denies the claims.
Mr Connolly, an accountancy graduate of Dublin City University, said the night in question was very cold.
After the party, the cottage's two bedrooms were occupied and he sat down on the ground with the heater to one side and the wall to the other and fell asleep.
He awoke to find himself in flames.
His body was still scarred by the burns he sustained, Mr Connolly said. He was still very sensitive about the scarring although he had made a good recovery from the incident. He had resumed his rugby career about 18 months later.
Cross-examined by Mr Liam Gaynor SC, for the defence, Mr Connolly said he was "merry" but not "footless" during the party in the cottage.
He could not explain how he failed to notice the extraordinary heat rising from the radiator that would be required for his clothes to catch fire.
Counsel for Mr Connolly, Ms Maureen Clark SC, said there was no dispute that a lot of alcohol was consumed that night.
The oil-filled electric radiator which caused the fire was one which reached a very high temperature, up to 110 C, she said.
After Mr Connolly's clothes caught fire, he screamed and panicked and his sweater ignited. Fortunately, one of his friends pulled the clothes off. Twenty five per cent of his body was burned.
She said the heater should have been secured to the wall and should have had a guard.
There also should have been some warning for visitors to the cottage.
Mr Con Cleer, an ESB linesman and a guest at the party, said the fire in the sitting-room was quenched before he went to sleep. There was no mattress in front of the fire.
He remembered Sean Connolly woke up screaming, with flames coming from him.
He was rushed outside and rolled on the frosty grass before the flames went out. Mr Cleer said that inside the cottage he saw smoke coming from the heater and unplugged it.
Mr Richard Murphy, an electrical engineer, said he examined the radiator which was an oil heater heated by an electrical element. The temperature of the heater was controlled by an air-sensing thermostat. He did not think it was capable of going much higher than 110/120 C.
It had been found that this type of heater could cause severe scorching of clothes. Had it been fitted with a guard, the incident might not have happened.
Sparking of the thermostat might cause smouldering clothes to ignite.
The hearing continues today.