An 18-year-old man, who has been identified by gardaí as a suspect into the death of another teenager in Killarney in 2009, died after a fall down a stairs in a house in Tralee, the inquest into his death has heard.
Shane Regan, of Dromkerry, Fossa, Killarney, Co Kerry, had been attending a FÁS course in Tralee and was staying in a house in Caheranne Village, Tralee, the inquest in Tralee Coroner's Court heard.
On 24 August 2010, after leaving his course early because of a difficulty, he and friends had been partying.
They drank vodka first in the house in Caheranne and then later in Pearse Park in the town, where Shane Regan had fallen asleep.
He returned with his friends by taxi to his accommodation, appeared to sober up, but fell after backing out of his bedroom down the stairs. His friends checked him and believed him to be asleep, as he was snoring heavily and his pulse was good.
He appeared to have no injuries. They covered him with a duvet and left him asleep at the end of the stairs.
However he was still in the same position the next morning and his parents arrived from Killarney after being told about his fall the previous night.
He was taken by ambulance to Kerry General Hospital where he died next day.
Coroner Dr Margot Bolster told the inquest into his death in Tralee today that the 18-year-old died from severe head injuries and brain damage sustained in a fall down the stairs. A secondary factor was hypothermia, which had set in despite the fact he had been covered by a blanket. The hypothermia had increased because of the alcohol he had in his system, she said.
His blood alcohol level at death was 93mg, but would have been much higher initially, Dr Bolster said.
The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.
Garda Inspector Donal Ashe sympathised with the Regan family and with his mother's relatives who were in court. Coroner Helen Lucey and the jury also extended their sympathy to the family.
Mr Regan was one of a number of youths arrested and questioned after a fatal knife attack on 17-year-old Stephen Lyne near Mr Lyne's home at Ross Road, Killarney, in June 2009. He was one of the main suspects in the Lyne death, gardaí confirmed last year.
No-one has been charged with Stephen Lyne's death.
Last August, Shane Regan's solicitor, Padraig O'Connell, at the request of the Regan family, took the unusual step of speaking at his client's funeral mass in Fossa.
He stressed that his client had died an innocent man, had died without a stain in his character and no prosecution had been pending.
