A judge has approved a €25,000 damages settlement for a boy whose arm was impaled on a metal hook attached to an inflatable bungee run harness as it catapulted into him.
Kiel Kavanagh, then 11, suffered a significant injury during an allegedly unsupervised bungee run at an infants’ fun sports week in the grounds of St Anne’s Primary School in Fettercairn, Tallaght, Co Dublin, in June 2023, the Circuit Civil Court heard.
David Richardson, for Kiel, said the boy and another schoolboy had been harnessed to bungee lines which allowed them to run as far as they possibly could along separate air-filled lanes before an elasticated attachment eventually overpowered them and propelled them backwards.
Judge Ronan Munro heard that the bouncy nature of the inflated bungee run had bounced Kiel’s fellow schoolfriend into Kiel’s lane. The startled boy released himself from his harness, which then catapulted backwards and struck Kiel.
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Mr Richardson said Kiel, now 13, of Bawnlea Crescent, Jobstown, Tallaght, had been hooked like a fish in his upper left arm by a metal hook attached to the harness that had been catapulted at speed towards him.
Kiel was taken by his mother, Maria Kavanagh, to Tallaght University Hospital where his wound had been dressed and stitched. The court heard he had been left with scarring. A lesser offer of compensation had earlier been rejected by another judge.
Mr Richardson said there had been an increased offer of €25,000, which he was recommending to the court.
Judge Munro, considering the offer by the Board of Management of St Anne’s, said Kiel’s wound had healed well, but the scar was plain to see. He said Kiel had been treated professionally by the hospital.
“It is a very good offer and I have no hesitation in approving it,” Judge Munro said.
