A serving garda who developed PTSD and suffered a head wound after a man’s body fell on her during an emergency response has been awarded €64,800 by the High Court, including agreed special damages of €1,800, together with costs.
Mr Justice Micheál O’Higgins delivered judgment on 14 May 2025 after hearing the case as an assessment in Cork on 12 May. The plaintiff, Mary Jane Somers, sued the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, the Minister for Justice and the Attorney General. The court’s judgment assessed damages; it did not set out a liability dispute.
The judge heard that Somers and a colleague were called in the early hours to a report of a man hanging from scaffolding outside a nightclub. As they tried to reach him, the ligature was cut or snapped and his body fell, striking Somers on the head before landing on the ground. She continued assisting at the scene, then received treatment at hospital for a bleeding scalp wound.
The court accepted that Somers suffered PTSD, ongoing anxiety, reduced confidence and avoidance symptoms. Although her symptoms had eased, the judge found she had not fully recovered and placed the psychological injury at the upper end of the moderate PTSD range under the March 2021 Personal Injuries Guidelines. He assigned €35,000 for that injury. The judge declined to treat proposed guideline amendments as having legal force because the required statutory procedures had not been completed, while noting the review committee’s view that the existing guidelines were out of date.
The judge also assigned €2,000 for headaches, which had resolved; €30,000 for a permanent, sensitive scalp scar; and €10,000 for hair damage. Applying a one-third reduction to the non-dominant injuries to account for overlap and the combined injury profile, he calculated general damages of €63,000. With €1,800 in agreed special damages, the total judgment was €64,800.
Somers had sought €350 for a consultation and €2,500 for future hair transplant treatment. The judge found that claim was not supported by professional evidence or adequate proof of cost, and limited special damages to the agreed €1,800. He nevertheless accepted that hair had not fully regrown in the affected area. The court awarded costs to the plaintiff.