A girl, who cut her leg to the bone on a knife-edged metal toilet roll holder in her home, has been awarded €40,000 damages at the Circuit Civil Court.
Barrister Ray Delahunt told Circuit Court President, Mr Justice Raymond Groarke, that Katie Carroll McGowan's mother, Maria, had earlier bought the stand-alone roll holder in a Heatons store.
She had placed it in the bathroom of the family’s apartment at Glenn Na Heorna, Cookstown Road, Springfield, Tallaght, where it had been used for a number of months before the incident.
Mr Delahunt, for Katie and her mother, told the court the child, then aged five, had been washing her hands in the bathroom when she slipped and knocked her leg against a hinged metal flap that secures the toilet roll on the holder.
“Katie cut her right leg to the bone just above her shin,” Mr Delahunt said. “Her mother heard a noise and found her bleeding heavily. She tried to stem the bleeding while an ambulance was called.”
He said Katie had been taken to the A&E department of Tallaght Hospital where she had been admitted. The wound was cleaned and stitched while Katie was under general anaesthetic.
Consultant paediatrician Ciara Martin told the court in a medical report that Katie, now seven, had a four-inch long two-inch-deep wound extending through the skin, fat and muscle to the bone. She had been admitted to the hospital for several days and had been off school for two weeks.
Dr Martin said Katie had been left with a very prominent scar which should continue to heal but would remain permanent. She had made a good recovery with no loss of function of her leg.
Katie’s mother told Judge Groarke that the toilet roll holder had an edge on it as sharp as a knife.
Mr Delahunt said liability had not been questioned by Heatons who had offered a settlement of €40,000 which he recommended to the court. The offer was accepted by Judge Groarke.