Bride seriously injured after she fell out hotel window on her wedding night
A bride who was badly injured when she fell 20 to 25 feet from a second storey hotel window on her wedding night has settled a High Court action over the incident.Jackie Sexton (nee Tyrrell) took the case against Deebert House Hotel Ltd, Kilmallock, Co Limerick, over the incident that occurred in the late hours after her wedding on February 29, 2020.The hotel denied liability for the fall and said they had properly fitted the windows in the hotel with restrictors in 2014 and were in full compliance with building standards.Mother-of-two, Ms Sexton, alleged negligence and breach of duty in failing to take reasonable care that the plaintiff would be safe in the hotel room.On Friday, Ms Sexton told her senior counsel, Barney Quirke, that she and her husband returned to the hotel from the wedding reception held at a different location at around 3.30am and that they went to room 217. She said a lot of drink had been taken on her wedding day and that the last thing she could remember of the night was sitting in her underwear on the window sill with her feet resting on the table.Ms Sexton (37), originally from The Curragh, Co Kildare, but who now lives in Croom, Co Limerick, said she was smoking a cigarette at the window when she fell.The next thing she remembered was waking up in Limerick University Hospital the next day with a morphine clicker, she said. Ms Sexton said she only found out what happened when her husband, Christopher, told her.Mr Quirke told the court in his opening speech that Mr Sexton returned from the bathroom to the bedroom where there was no sign of his wife and the window was open. Mr Quirke said that Mr Sexton went into a panic and though he could not see his wife from the window he could hear “moaning or groaning” from the paving area below.Counsel submitted that Ms Sexton fell from a height to snowy, wet concrete and that the area where she fell was restricted and it took some time to get to her.She had suffered multiple fractures to her ribs, injury to her back, right leg, hip, pelvic bone, a kidney infraction and a collapsed lung.Read moreDad-of-six intended to end friend’s life when he ‘unloaded’ five bullets into his body, jury toldHer lawyers submitted that “the wedding weekend was destroyed as a result of the accident”.Ms Sexton told the court she had been an active person, who enjoyed walking and swimming, had a jockey licence since her teens and had qualified in horsemanship. She had worked in hospitality, at the local Spar shop and in medical device production before the fall, jobs which, she said, she can no longer do due to the ongoing back and leg pain.Her “painful and scary” rehabilitation process towards mobility - which occurred through Covid - involved the initial surgery, the use of a cervical collar, a spinal brace, a wheelchair, crutches, physiotherapy and strong medication, she said.Talks between the parties began during a break from the hearing during which cross-examination of Ms Sexton had begun.Later on Friday, Mr Quirke said the matter had been resolved and could be struck out without any costs order. Ms Justice Denise Brett then struck out the case which had been slated to last five days and passed on her best wishes to Ms Sexton.
