Drogheda man died when he was struck by a lorry on the N2 at Crickstown near Ashbourne

An 82-year-old man living alone at Kilbride, Meath was found deceased beside a digger at his home an inquest has been told.

The death of Patrick Moran, Long Acre, Kilbride on 20th September 2024 was the subject of the inquest conducted by Coroner for Meath Nathaniel Lacy at Trim Courthouse.

A statement by Garda Kealan Cunningham was read to the inquest by Garda Inspector Alan Roughneen. The Garda said that he was called to a residence at Long Acre where a number of emergency response vehicles were present.

He met Dunshaughlin fire chief Fionnan Blake who informed him that he had been contacted by the National Ambulance Service about a sudden death. The Garda also spoke to Michael Rogers, one of the first responders to the scene. He had also spoken to Vanessa Moran, the deceased’s daughter.

She had outlined to him how she discovered her father unresponsive beside a JCB digger he had been working on that morning.

Michael Rogers was pronounced death at 10:30 hours, the Garda said. The coroner was notified and the deceased’s body was taken to the mortuary at Navan Hospital.

Vanessa Moran, in a statement read by Inspector Roughneen, said that on the morning of 20th September she had gone to her father’s house.

She did not find him despite having looked around and thought he might have gone to talk to neighbours who were carrying out renovations. She left the house and headed up the road but decided to ring him. The call went to voice nail.

On the third call she went back to the house but didn’t find his phone there. She found her father collapsed on the right side of the digger on his stomach.

She phoned her brother Patrick and her husband Laurence and sister Kelly Anne. She had also phoned the emergency services. CPR was also started.

She had visited her father every day and sometimes on multiple occasions on the same day.

Consultant pathologist Professor Muna Sabah told the inquest that Mr Moran had suffered a laceration above the left eye with bruises on the bridge of the nose and a fracture of the nasal bone. The left side of the chest was completely flat.

Internally he had narrowing of the arteries.

It appeared that he had had a previous heart attack. He had injured airways and his lungs were compressed and he had rib fractures.

Death had resulted from traumatic thoracic injury. There was definite evidence of trauma to the chest, she said.

The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death and he and Inspector Roughneen extended their condolences to the family of the deceased.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.