Irishman dies in Australia after court conviction

Roscommon-born Pádraig Gaffney had faced charges over $500,000 damage to hotel

The hotel in Melbourne which faced a bill for Aus$500,000 after the flooding incident.
The hotel in Melbourne which faced a bill for Aus$500,000 after the flooding incident.

A Roscommon man who pleaded guilty in a Melbourne court this week to causing more than AUS$500,000 (€ 335,350) damage to a hotel in April last year has died.

Pádraig Gaffney (29) was before a court on Tuesday in relation to the incident in which he was drunk and turned on a fire hydrant flooding the hotel.

He was fined $10,00 after pleading guilty to a charge of criminal damage.

He had travelled to Melbourne from Queensland to celebrate his 28th birthday and to ask his girlfriend to marry him.

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Mr Gaffney told Melbourne’s Age newspaper the episode had ruined his life completely.

Mr Gaffney trained as a carpenter in Ireland and worked in construction in Queensland.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman confirmed consular assistance had been offered to the family of an Irishman who had died in Melbourne.