Posted online: Dec 7th, 2011

THE jury at an inquest into the death of a Dublin teenager in Bundoran this summer returned a verdict of death by misadventure last week.
Joseph Olwill from Santry, Dublin fell from the top of the three-storey Tyrconnell Apartments building on Station Road at about 2.30am on the morning of August 25.
The 17-year-old was one of a group of up to 14 boys and girls, who had been renting two apartments and a number had been attending a local surfing school.
The inquest in Donegal Town, presided over by Coroner Dr Diarmuid Hegarty, was told that the teenager had climbed out of a window even though friends advised him to wait until they found a key.
One of them, Lee Kenny told the inquest that they were celebrating the last night on holiday and also his birthday. When the apartment key was mislaid he went across to an amusements arcade run by the apartments owner and he arranged for an attendant to bring a replacement key.
When they returned, he discovered Joseph had climbed on to the roof. He went in to the apartment to pick up the mislaid key off the table and as he was about to leave he heard a “loud thud” in an alleyway outside.
The inquest heard of efforts by one of the party, David Keogh – a trained paramedic who was in the group with his twin Darren – to apply CPR to Joseph before gardai and ambulance personnel arrived with a defibrillator, which failed to get a response.
Garda Seán McLaughlin told the hearing that slip marks had been found on the roof tiles almost directly above the apartment window.
Medical evidence outlined that Joseph broke his left arm in two places and lost a lot of blood due to a damaged liver. He had 163 milligrammes of alcohol in his blood but there was no evidence that he had taken drugs.
The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
Dr Hegarty said the incident had been a tragic accident: “It was one of a series of incidents over the past number of years when young people come to Donegal and there are tragic consequences. It’s always sad to see a young life lost in tragic circumstances like this.”