The inquest into the death of Adam McCormick, the teenager from Cabra, Threemilecross who died after he got into difficulty at Hollywood Lake two years ago, has heard how other teenagers thought he was “messing” when he waved his arms in the water.
Adam’s mother also gave evidence at her son’s inquest when she said the fact her 14-year-old was not a strong swimmer and was “afraid of water” was the main contributing factor which led to his untimely death. .
The Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard how one boy in Adam’s company tried unsuccessfully to rescue him but got into difficulty himself and how a man who was visiting the lake on 21st July 2021 noticed a group of teenagers acting visibly distressed at around 4:20pm.
Conor Cahill told the inquest he grabbed a ringbuoy and made his way into the water but said it took him at least five attempts diving down where there was “extremely poor visibility” underwater, before he caught hold of Adam who was unresponsive at the time.
Mr Cahill and a nurse, who was also visiting Hollywood Lake near Scotstown on the fateful day, administered CPR until paramedics arrived.
But, despite the actions of Mr Cahill and medical staff at the lake and later in Temple Street children’s hospital, Adam was pronounced dead just under 24 hours after he entered the water.
Garda Brian Foley of Scotstown Garda Station said he carried out a patrol of Holywood Lake at about 3:40pm, less than an hour before tragedy struck, and confiscated alcohol from some of the teenagers there celebrating a friend’s 17th birthday.
One teenager said in a written submission there was a large group of young people at the lake but he did not know everyone.
Garda Foley said he did not have any evidence to suggest Adam had consumed alcohol and an inability to analyse blood samples taken from Adam meant it was not possible to confirm or deny if he had consumed alcohol at the time. Pathologist Dr Michael McDermott told the court an attempt to analyse a blood sample from Adam for alcohol, failed.
Dr McDermott attributed the cause of the boy’s death to a lack of oxygen and blood to the brain which had caused multi-organ failure
He said the boy’s injuries were consistent with the accounts of eyewitnesses that he had been submerged under water for over five minutes followed by a prolonged period of attempts to resuscitate him.
Returning a verdict of accidental death, the coroner, Aisling Gleeson, said she was satisfied that there was corroborating evidence from a number of witnesses about what had happened at the lake.
