A County Mayo woman, who blamed a spotlight outside a church for a fall in which she broke a bone in her ankle, has been awarded €25,000 in damages by Castlebar Civil Court.
62-year old Margaret Loughney of Lacken, Ballina, had brought the case against the former parish priest of Lacken, Fr Patrick Hegarty.
Ms Loughney told the court that, on leaving the sacristy of St Patrick’s Church, Lacken, having had rosary beads blessed for an elderly neighbour, she was blinded by an outdoor spotlight, missed her step and fell.
She had to drive home in first gear because of the pain and get her husband to help her into the house.
She was seen at Mayo General Hospital where it was confirmed she had fractured her metatarsal bone and she had to spend six weeks in a cast.
The incident happened in March 2009, but Ms Loughney said that she still gets pain in cold weather and cannot engage in her passion for set dancing.
In response to counsel for Fr Hegarty, John O’Donnell, that the spotlight was too far away and in the wrong position to blind her, she repeated her claim that it blinded her and caused her to miss the step.
She said she did not use a handrail because she is right handed and the rail was on the left hand side.
The court heard that since the incident, a second hand railing has been erected, yellow markings have been placed on the step, and that the spotlight has moved up nine metres.
An engineer, Ms Ann Kelly, gave evidence that she set up the spotlight where it had been on the night in question and found that the light was not dazzling, and she added that she found nothing dangerous about the steps.
Fr Hegarty, who is now retired, told the court there had been no complaints about the lights blinding people but admitted that it could be dazzling if you faced it and said moving it up to a tree had made it “kinder on the eyes.”
Judge Thomas E O’Donnell praised what he called Fr Hegarty’s “extremely fair evidence” but said he accepted Ms Loughney’s version of events that she was momentarily dazzled by the light and missed the step, and that was the reason for her falling.
He said that what happened to her was severe because after three years she has not made a full recovery, and granted her €25,000 plus costs.