This article is from page 20 of the 2009-04-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
A WOMAN died due to smoke inha- lation after her cottage in east Clare took fire, an inquest heard yesterday.
Helen ‘Nellie’ Moloney (77) died in a fire at her home at Woodcock Hill, Meelick, on July 14 last year.
At Ennis Coroner’s Court yester- day, her son Tony, who lived with her, recalled the hours leading up to her death.
He said he had checked on his mother at 10pm, llpm and 3.30am and each time she told him she was ‘fine’.
He said he woke up at 7.55am to two loud bangs. He said there was black smoke coming through the roof of the house, to his bedroom. The hall- way of the house was full of smoke. He said he went outside and the win- dows appeared black with smoke.
He threw a flower pot in through
his mother’s bedroom window and through the sitting room window, in an effort to see her. He ran to their neighbour’s house and summoned help.
“IT was shouting, “Mammy, Mam- my’, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t get into the house with the flames,’ he recalled.
Another son, Tom, said he received a call to go home early that morning. He thought his mother had fallen as
she had fallen previously.
When he got to the house, he saw that it was in flames. The house had burnt down, but the walls were still standing.
His brother Tony told him that their mother was in the house and he couldn’t get her out. He was later told by a garda that his mother was in the sitting room and had died.
Sergeant Noel McMahon said he attempted to gain entry but was un-
able to do so due to the flames and smoke. After the fire had been put out, he went into the building, where he found the badly burnt body of Mrs Moloney.
Dr Elizabeth Mulcahy carried out a post mortem examination on her body at Limerick Regional Hospi- tal. She said she had suffered severe twee
She concluded that death was most likely due to smoke inhalation.