A coroner in the inquest into the death of a 14-year-old girl in a public playground in Killarney in March has said the public should be educated on the potential for abuse of ordinary household solvents.
Mr Terence Casey, coroner, said he has been deputy coroner in Killarney since 1994. Yesterday he said: "I had never known that kids used ordinary household air fresheners for sniffing."
In the inquest this week into the death of Ruth Harris, of Deerpark Crescent, Killarney, the jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical findings of Dr Margot Bolster, Assistant State Pathologist, of death due to misadventure due to the aspiration of vomit due to inhalation of the solvent butane.
Ruth Harris had inhaled ordinary household Haze air freshener from a plastic bag for five minutes in a playground opposite the all-Irish school at Deerpark, Killarney, at around 8.15 p.m. on March 6th, before collapsing and dying, according to depositions read at the inquest.
Stephanie Conway, a friend of Ruth's, told how she, Ruth, and another friend had thought it would be a good idea to get some Haze air freshener from the nearby Tesco store.
Ruth organised two cans of Haze air freshener and two plastic bags.
Ruth Harris sprayed one of the cans into the bag and she held the top of the bag to her mouth.
"She was inhaling the spray for about five minutes. She was standing up while inhaling. The next thing I noticed she was swaying from side to side . . . I ran over to her and could feel the weight of her body falling against me. I was not able to hold her and she fell to the ground. I saw her eyes spinning in her head and all froth started coming from her mouth," Stephanie Conway said.
Stephanie made several attempts to resuscitate Ruth. She felt no pulse however and ran to Ruth's home.
Attempts by gardaí and nurses also failed to resuscitate her.
Ruth had inhaled air freshener once previously, "but not as much" as the night she died, Stephanie Conway said in her statement.
In her statement, Ruth's mother, Ms Meg McCarthy Harris, told how she went in her car with her two sons to the playground and found her daughter lying on the ground.
Supt Michael Maher praised the efforts of Stephanie's father, Mr Sean Conway, for helping to solve what to gardaí had been "a sudden, unexplained death".
Supt Maher, the jury foreman Mr Jimmy O'Brien and Mr Casey each expressed sympathy to the Harris family.