A five year-old girl, who sustained severe injuries after falling from an insecure window, has received a five-figure settlement of compensation.
The accident occurred in August 2012, when Róisín Byrne – then aged fifteen months old – fell eleven feet from a window to a fire escape at her parent’s home in Blackrock, Co. Dublin. The little girl sustain fractures to her ribs, a punctured lung and injuries to her head. Now five years old, she has mostly recovered, though still has a visible scar on her head from the accident.
The Georgian window from which Róisín fell had been identified as a hazard by her parents, Ronan Byrne and Chloe Murphy, as it is very close to the ground. As such, they asked the caretaker of the property to install a security mechanism so that a fall could be prevented.
Yet the request was not undertaken, and acting on her daughter’s behalf, Chloe sought legal counsel and proceeded to file for assessment wth the Injuries Board. The owner of the Blackrock property, Enda Woods, allowed an investigation to be carried out, which resulted in an estimate of compensation worth €46,000.
Though the assessment was agreed by both parties to be fair, as it was made on behalf of a child, the claim had to be approved by a judge. The case proceeded to the Circuit Court, as the value of the claim was in excess of €15,000.
At the court, after hearing details of Róisín’s accident, Mr Justice Raymond Groarke approved the settlement. It will now be paid into court funds until Róisín’s eighteenth birthday.
