A coroner in Cork has recommended that building regulations be complied with in the future when work is being carried out on the windows of apartment buildings where children are living.
Dr Myra Cullinane made her comments at the close of the inquest into the death of 22- month-old Sumayi Ali from head injuries after she fell 25 feet from a window of her family home in Cork on August 26th.
She recorded a verdict of accidental death and made her recommendation in an effort to prevent similar tragedies from occurring at such apartments in the future. The windows in the Ali apartment had been installed prior to the current building regulations.
Shawkat Ali told the inquest yesterday that his daughter had been playing in the two-bed apartment at Hardwicke Street with a friend on the day of her death.
He had been watching the toddlers from the kitchen where he was cooking dinner and his wife Romana and the other child's mother were in the sitting room.
He and his wife shared the apartment with two male friends who stayed in the other bedroom. When the children tried to go into this bedroom, he pulled them away and closed the door.
Suddenly, he could no longer see Sumayi so he went to check his bedroom, the bathroom and the hallway outside as she sometimes hid on him. He went down to the ground floor and heard somebody shout, "baby fall out".
"I went out and saw Sumayi lying on the ground. I took her in my arms and tried to give her oxygen from my mouth. She opened her eyes and looked at me one time. I brought her to hospital. She never closed her eyes again."
Mr Ali said his daughter must have been playing in the second bedroom when she fell from the window. The window must have already been open as she would not have been able to open it.
Liam King said he was driving on to Hardwicke Street at 12.30pm when he saw a child lying on the footpath curled into a ball and knew there was something wrong. A man came out and picked up the child and Mr King drove them to the Mercy Hospital. The child's father gave her mouth-to-mouth through the entire journey.
Det Sgt Vincent O'Sullivan told the inquest that one of the windows in the second bedroom, belonging to the Alis' friends, was open when he arrived to investigate the incident. There was a bed pushed against the wall below the open window. He was satisfied this was a tragic accident that could not have been predicted.
Eileen O'Driscoll, who owns the apartment building at Hardwicke Street with her husband, told the coroner that they had put a device on the windows to prevent them from opening more than nine inches and they were looking into further alterations.
Deputy State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said the cause of death was brain swelling, bruising and lacerations.
