Man fatally impaled on spike while mistakenly fleeing gardaí, inquest hears

A man died from blood loss after being impaled on the garden gate of a house in Dublin after fleeing from gardaí­ in the mistaken belief that they had been looking for him, an inquest has heard.

Ciprian Aioanei (38), a Romanian national and father of two, was found collapsed in the front garden of a house at Greenridge Court, Corduff on August 14th, 2018 after running out the back of his nearby home the previous night when gardaí ­ called to his door.

A postmortem concluded that Mr Aioanei died as a result of a single puncture wound to his right groin which had perforated a major artery, resulting in a severe loss of blood. The inquest heard the injury was consistent with having been impaled by a spike and that death could have occurred within a few minutes.

The inquest heard small amounts of cocaine and alcohol were found in his body, which may have affected Mr Aioanei’s judgement.

Sergeant John O'Donovan of Cabra Garda station told Dublin Coroner's Court he had called to a house where Mr Aioanei was living at Edgewood Lawn in Corduff at about 9.45pm on August 13th to check that another resident of the house was meeting his bail conditions.

Evasive

Sgt O’Donovan said he noticed a man look out an upstairs window and then saw through the frosted glass of the front door the shadow of a man coming down the stairs and going into a kitchen at the back of the property.

He said a woman who answered the door became evasive when he asked who had come down the stairs.

Sgt O’Donovan said three men who were in an upstairs bedroom denied there had been anyone else in the house. However, when he searched the back garden he caught a glimpse of a man on top of a gate at a laneway.

“I called after this male but I believe he didn’t hear me,” said Sgt O’Donovan.

He and a colleague drove around the area and searched the laneway but found no trace of the man.

A neighbour*, who discovered Mr Aioanei lying across the boundary wall of the front garden of her home at Greenridge Court as she was leaving for working at 7.10am on August 14th, said she initially believed he was drunk. She then saw blood stains on his clothing and large quantities of blood on his legs and stomach. She* then raised the alarm.

Detective Garda Brendan O'Hora from Blanchardstown Garda station said gardaí­ found body tissue was found on top of a spiked steel garden gate at Greenridge Court and footwear nearby.

He told the inquest Mr Aioanei was wanted by gardaí­ at the time of his death but did not provide any further details. “It is for this reason it is believed the deceased fled Edgewood Lawns and injured himself on the steel gate spike,” he said.

Gardaí­ said they were unaware Mr Aioanei had been living at the house.

The coroner, Dr Cróna Gallagher, returned a verdict of accidental death.

*This article was edited on November 30th, 2020