THE heartbroken sister of a 41-year-old man who died from head injuries sustained during a drunken fall has told how he was the third of her siblings to die.
Mervyn McCormick was found unconscious in his apartment at Henry Street Mews in Ballymoney on July 1, 2011. He died the following day in hospital.
Coroner John Leckey, sitting in Coleraine Coroner’s Court, yesterday heard how the former bricklayer was “heavily intoxicated” at the time of his fall. He found the cause of Mr McCormick’s death to be subdural haemorrhage and cerebral oedema.
A pathologist’s report said Mr McCormick had sustained an abrasion above his right eye and had broken four ribs, in addition to other injuries.
It is not known whether Mr McCormick sustained the injuries which led to his death before or after he returned to his apartment.
A constable, based in Coleraine, said police had been made aware of a male “staggering all over the place” along Queen Street in Ballymoney. When he spoke to Mr McCormick he asked him if he was okay. Mr McCormick replied that he was, saying: “I’m just full drunk.”
The constable said he saw a cut above Mr McCormick’s right eye “with dried blood around it”. He said he helped Mr McCormick into the back of the police car where he said he “was laughing and talking to us”.
“We took him back to Henry Street. He put his key in the door and went in. We spent 20 minutes with Mr McCormick and during this time he was jovial and happy.”
The constable added that although he was unsteady, Mr McCormick was “very coherent and in good form”. He said that he had asked Mr McCormick if he wanted to go to hospital but he said no.
“We couldn’t force him to go to hospital,” he said.
A spokesman for the Police Ombudsman said: “An investigation into this matter is complete and we will be reporting on it in the near future.”
His sister, Karen Acheson, 49, from Ballymoney, described her brother was “a great fella”. She said she wished she had been contacted on the night her brother was brought home so she could have checked on him.