A 26-year-old network administrator thought he had cut his throat when he swallowed glass during a Sunday lunch outing with his family, the Circuit Civil Court heard yesterday.
The court awarded Mr Ian Murray, of Portmarnock, Dublin, £5,700 in damages. Mr Murray told Judge Frank O'Donnell that he cut his lip and gum when he crunched on a piece of glass while eating an ice-cream dessert in The Island View Hotel, Coast Road, Malahide, Co Dublin.
He said he was greatly distressed when a hospital casualty doctor told him it would take a week for any glass he had swallowed to pass through his body. He had been told it was unlikely to cause him any problems and that there was no fear of lead poisoning.
Mr Murray said the incident occurred while he and his family were finishing a carvery lunch at the hotel on Sunday May 2nd, 1999. When he detected blood on his lip he ran to the toilet and spat out the ice cream.
There had been several pieces of glass in the wash-hand basin and he took several pieces to the hotel manager Philip Darby.
Murray told Mr Delargy he developed a mouth ulcer and had suffered pain and irritation for about a fortnight after the incident.
He was now inclined to be more cautious when eating and examine food very carefully.
Judge O'Donnell said liability had been admitted by the hotel, which claimed a small piece of plastic had probably broken off an ice-cream container.
Awarding Mr Murray £5,700 damages, he said that while his injuries were minor he had suffered a bad experience. It was of little importance whether the foreign body in the ice-cream was plastic or glass.