Inquest told of Mayo boy's tragic death in crash

A Mayo teenager who suffered fatal injuries when a tractor he was driving overturned was using the vehicle for the first time unknown to his family, an inquest has heard.

Kyle Pilbrow (13) from Bushfield, Hollymount, sustained a catastrophic head injury in the collision which occurred at Scardaune, near Claremorris, around 8.15pm on May 20, 2023.

The first year student at St Colman’s College in Claremorris was brought to University Hospital Galway by ambulance and was later transferred to Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street in Dublin where he died the following day.

A postmortem showed he died from a traumatic head injury as a result of a single-vehicle collision.

An inquest into his death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard that Kyle had never driven the John Deere tractor, which belonged to his grandfather, before as far as his family were aware.

“It was totally out of the blue for Kyle to take the tractor,” said his father, Janny Pilbrow. “It never happened before. He would be familiar with the farm but it was totally out of character for him to drive it.” 

The inquest heard that Kyle’s family believed he might have been going to visit a friend who lived in the area which was about four kilometres from their own home.

In reply to questions from coroner Cróna Gallagher, Mr Pilbrow said his son did not have any experience of driving a tractor to their knowledge.

He recalled seeing his son for the last time about a half-hour before the fatal crash at home when he was “in good form". Mr Pilbrow said he and his wife, Lisa, had gone to a relative’s house where she had received a phone call to say there had been an accident in Scardaune.

He told the inquest how they had immediately driven to the location where he could see his son being worked on by paramedics down an embankment where the tractor had crashed.

“It is all a blur,” said Mr Pilbrow.

He said his son was brought straight into surgery after arriving in Temple Street but they were told by doctors after an operation lasting three hours that there was nothing more they could do.

A witness, Stephen Nyland, gave evidence of seeing a tractor being driven by a young person “veering all over the road”. Mr Nyland, who was a passenger in a car two vehicles behind the tractor, said the manner of driving gave the impression that the driver was either intoxicated or unable to drive it.

He described hearing a bang and turning to see the tractor had crashed into a tree and ended up on its side after it had taken a right turn too fast at a crossroads.

Mr Nyland also said they had earlier come across big rocks on the road shortly before they caught up on the tractor.

Another passenger in the same vehicle, Ian McCormack, recalled that the tractor was being driven dangerously.

Mr McCormack described going to help the victim who appeared unconscious and could not open his eyes.

He said the teenager’s phone was ringing with something on Snapchat before another call came through which was from the boy’s mother whom he informed about the accident.

A now retired forensic collision investigator, Sergeant Gabriel McLoughlin, said the location of the collision had a default 80km/h speed limit at the time but vehicles using the road would be travelling much slower.

Sgt McLoughlin gave evidence that the rocks in the road had been caused by the wheels of the tractor driving into a ditch.

However, he confirmed that an examination of the vehicle showed the tractor was in roadworthy condition with no mechanical defects.

Although he was unable to determine the actual speed of the tractor at the time of the fatal collision, he said it would have been going at “a reasonable to high speed” at the point of the impact due to the extent of the damage to the vehicle.

Sgt McLoughlin agreed with the coroner that the crash was essentially due to the driving style and the lack of experience of the driver.

The deceased’s mother interjected to claim that she had heard that another motorist who was directly behind the tractor had not considered that it was being driven erratically.

Kyle’s brother, Morgan Pilbrow, also pointed out that the tractor was only capable of doing up to 40km/h.

“It was not mental speed. It was just too fast to take a corner,” he added.

Garda Jason Lardner informed the inquest that gardaí had not received any statement from the motorist travelling immediately behind the tractor. He also confirmed that they had been unable to establish definitively where Kyle was going as his mobile phone could not be analysed.

Returning a verdict of accidental death, Dr Gallagher said it was “a very tragic accident”. While observing that young people can be impulsive with a low appreciation of dangers which existed, the coroner said she did not believe there were any recommendations she could make.

In an emotional tribute to the hearing, Ms Pilbrow described her son as “loving, funny and kind with the most wonderful sense of humour". 

“Kyle was a beautiful boy inside and out. He had the biggest smile that could light up a room and a heart of gold,” she added.

Fighting back tears, Ms Pilbrow recalled how he was always “ready for the craic” and loved to talk.

“He never really shut up. We would give everything to hear him now,” she added.

While it was sometimes “incredibly hard” remembering him, Ms Pilbrow said her family were grateful for all the memories they have of him.

“Our hearts are broken in a way that most people will never have to understand,” she observed.