A 43-year-old Polish man who died from pneumonia while a resident in a nursing home in Dublin had never recovered from a severe brain injury he suffered following an assault a decade earlier, an inquest has heard.
Dariusz Baraniak had been a resident in Hamilton Park Care Centre in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, for almost 10 years when he died on January 3rd, 2023.
The inquest heard that Mr Baraniak suffered a traumatic brain injury after being assaulted by one of his roommates in their rented house in Navan, Co Meath, in April 2012.
In November 2014, the other man pleaded guilty to the assault and was sentenced to 10 years in jail with the last three suspended.
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During an interview with An Garda Síochána in 2012, the suspect said he had no recollection of the assault but had been experiencing hallucinations at the time due to a psychiatric condition.
The weapon used in the assault was not recovered but it was likely to be something heavy and sharp such as an axe, the inquest, held at Dublin District Coroner’s Court, heard.
John Raleigh, assistant nursing director at Hamilton Park Care Centre, said that Mr Baraniak could not eat or walk without assistance. His condition did not improve during his time at the centre, the inquest was told.
Mr Raleigh said that Mr Baraniak’s death was “quite sudden”. On the day in question, he was “having difficulty breathing” and had a cardiac arrest shortly afterwards.
Professor Eamon Leen, who carried out the postmortem examination, told the inquest that Mr Baraniak had pneumonia at the time of his death.
“You would not expect to get pneumonia of this severity in a healthy young person of his age,” Prof Leen said, adding that the severity was likely connected to Mr Baraniak’s brain injury.
Coroner Dr Cróna Gallagher informed the jury that it was a “slightly unusual case” as they would have to consider “an event many years earlier”, referencing the assault.
The jury deliberated for less than an hour on Friday. They reached a narrative verdict, stating that Mr Baraniak died of pneumonia.
“He did not recover after he sustained a head injury on the 17th of April 2012. An individual pleaded guilty to an assault causing serious harm in 2014 arising from this incident,” the jury noted in a statement.
