Share and Follow
A tourist suffocated after a heavy bench he was sitting on toppled backwards and pinned him against a wall, a court has heard.
American Patrick McGuire, 67, had been on a holiday in the Highlands with wife Anna and two friends.
The group, from Wisconsin, were staying at the Glengarry Castle Hotel on Loch Oich, near Fort Augustus, in April 2019.
Owners Robert and Donald MacCallum and late partner 80-year-old Janette MacCallum were prosecuted after a police investigation into the tragedy.
At Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday, they admitted a breach of the Health and Safety Act after having previously recognised the risk of benches sinking into the grass and becoming unstable.
The group, from Wisconsin, were staying at the Glengarry Castle Hotel on Loch Oich, near Fort Augustus, in April 2019
American Patrick McGuire, 67, (pictured) had been on a holiday in the Highlands with wife Anna and two friends when the incident happened
Read Related Also: Luis Ruelas ‘screwed me’ in $250K business deal
The charges against the MacCallums said that they failed to have in place suitable inspections and maintenance to ensure the cast-iron benches were on a suitable, stable hard surface.
According to court papers, Mr McGuire sat back on the bench, which tipped backwards and caused him to strike his head on the wall, knocking him unconscious.
The court heard this trapped Mr McGuire between the 165lb bench and the wall, causing ‘positional asphyxiation’ and his death.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart said Mr McGuire went outside about 10.30pm to take photographs and have a cigarette. He was found after his wife awoke at 12.30am, noticed he had not returned and began a search.
Mr Urquhart said: ‘She found him lying on his back with his head touching a nearby wall, in a seated position on a bench. His head was up against the wall with his neck bent forward and his chin on his chest. She checked for signs of breathing and felt for a pulse… she could not detect either.’
The hotel was fined £14,000 after the penalty was discounted as the partners accepted full responsibility at the earliest stage.
Sheriff Gary Aitken said: ‘There can be fewer low-risk activities than sitting outside on a garden bench, taking a photograph and having a cigarette. It is a tragedy this event occurred and in no sense is the penalty a reflection on the value of Mr McGuire’s life.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
