A TWENTY-FIVE year old woman who died in a car crash last April died from multiple injuries sustained when she was thrown from her car. She wasn’t wearing a seat belt.
An inquest into the death of Aisling Teresa Reilly, who lived at Dernawilt Road, Kilturk North found that the young woman died on the morning of April 29, 2013 when she lost control of her Renault Clio which veered across the road and overturned into a field. She was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the car.
Aisling Reilly had just left her father’s home minutes before the crash and was on her way to work in Asda in Enniskillen when the fatal single vehicle collision occurred shortly after 8.30am.
Ms Reilly was driving towards Donagh along a straight stretch of road when her car swerved across to the opposite side of the road going through the hedge before flipping over when it hit a concrete laneway.
It is thought Ms Reilly’s car may have caught a deep rut on the left hand side of the road before swerving across the road.
There were no witnesses to the crash and there was no activity on the young woman’s mobile phone around the time of the crash.
A post mortem revealed Aisling died from multiple injuries including a number of life threatening injuries including a broken neck, a tear of her windpipe, and a brain haemorrhage. She had no alcohol in her system and a low level of the drug tramadol in her system, although this was below the therapeutic range. The inquest heard this drug can cause drowsiness.
Bernadette Prentice, a forensic scientist, said tramadol affects the central nervous system but said the amount in Aisling’s system was residual, saying it could have been taken some time previously, although there was no way to say when.
Ms Reilly’s GP, John Porteous was able to confirm she was prescribed some tramadol following a tonsil operation the previous year and the inquest heard she may have taken the drug for a toothache she had the previous week – she had an appointment with her dentist the day after she died.
Aisling’s father Terence Reilly said his daughter worked in Asda at the checkout and in the bakery.
He said she was a former all-Ireland line dancing champion and was also a fully qualified hairdresser.
Mr Reilly described his daughter as ‘bubbly’ and ‘loved by everybody’. He also said she always wore her seatbelt and he couldn’t understand why she wasn’t wearing it that morning.
The deceased’s mother, Mary Reilly, told the inquest she was ‘a great daughter and I miss her everyday’.
She said her daughter worked as a hairdresser until she got the job in Asda, where she was a union rep, but continued with the hairdressing part-time.
Brenda Manley, a nurse at Lisnaskea Health Centre, was the first on the scene and described how she came across the upturned car around 8.45am on April 29. She said Aisling was lying on the ground, face down, a few feet from the car.
She said Aisling was breathing but unconscious, and said her belongings, including her Asda name badge, were scattered around her. She said the ambulance took 30 minutes to arrive and she stayed with her during that time talking to her although she got no response.
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