Tiny toddler is killed by toppling television

A two year old child sustained fatal head injuries when furniture fell on top of him, while his parents were house-sitting a home in the city last summer, an Inquest into his death heard on Thursday.

The parents of Nikoden Skion, Martin and Ewelina, of New Street, Headford, were staying in Rockfield Park, Rahoon, on June 26 last year, when the accident occurred.

The child’s father, who was assisted by a Polish interpreter during the hearing, told the inquiry that a friend had asked them to mind in the house, which had been broken-into previously, while she went to Dublin.

He recalled that his son had pulled out the drawer of a tall dresser, which caused it and the heavy TV on top of it to topple over.

“I made two steps from the couch, and caught the TV and the press with my other hand, Nikoden fell over and hit his head over the table… there was a lot of blood,” he recalled.

The child’s parents brought him to nearby UHG, arriving within a few minutes.

The prognosis was not good, however. He had no heart rate, and was not moving. He was bleeding extensively from his nose and ears, and a CT scan of his brain showed multiple basal skull fractures, with intracranial air and brainstem herniation.

A doctor told Martin and Ewelina to “be prepared.”

The opinion of a paediatric neurosurgeon in Beaumont Hospital was sought, to the effect that the toddler’s injuries were “inoperable.”

Nikoden, who would have celebrated his third birthday the following September, died in the Intensive Care Unit at 4.31pm.

Consultant pathologist, Dr Stephanie Curran, carried out a post-mortem examination on the child’s remains, confirming the findings of the CT scan. She found no evidence of natural disease, which indicated that Nikoden was otherwise a healthy child.

She concluded that death was caused by severe head injuries, due to an accident.

Coroner for West Galway, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. He offered his sincere condolences to the child’s parents, who have since had another baby, other family members, and friends on the tragic circumstances of the young boy’s death.