Inquest hears man died after slipping on way home from pub

A man died due to sudden immersion in water after he tripped and fell on a canal bank after a night out in Dublin, an inquest heard.

John Stuart Brennan (42) was walking home along the Grand Canal at Charlemont Place in Dublin city centre when he tripped on the bank and his head was plunged into cold water.

Mr Brennan, an English teacher working at University College Dublin, was walking back to his home at Beechwood Avenue in Ranelagh when the accident happened on July 10th, 2015.

Dublin Coroner’s Court heard he met his sister in Dublin city centre that night and exchanged tickets to an upcoming concert.

“He was in great form, he was due to start a new job that week, he was in good health and everything was fine,” his partner Linda Doyle said.

The man’s mother, Frances Brennan said she spoke to him on the phone from the family home in Elphin, Co Roscommon and he was in great form. “He was delighted with his group for his English class,” she said.

Gardaí were called to the scene by a passerby who spotted a body partially in the canal at 5.30am on July 10th, 2015. Gardaí noted footsteps and a skid mark down the steep bank by the canal.

"It's very steep and there are rushes so the bank is not clearly defined. It's a very treacherous area," Garda Gary Woods told the court.

A postmortem found the cause of death was vasovagal arrest as a result of sudden immersion in water exacerbated by alcohol intoxication.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said the pathologist had ruled out drowning, trauma, injuries and third-party involvement.

“It seems he lost his footing and slipped on the bank and his head went down into the water. His heart stopped beating due to the shock to the system,” the coroner said.

“It’s not something that one can fully explain because there is no CCTV and there was nobody else around,” the coroner added, returning a verdict of accidental death.

This article was edited on January 11th, 2016.