A very disturbing case.
Verdicts of accidental death have been returned for a family killed in a motorway collision last year near Ballinasloe, Co Galway, while an open verdict was returned in relation to the man who drove into them.
The inquest before coroner Dr Richard Joyce heard that traces of cannabis were found in the blood of Jonasz Adam Lach (43), of Portumna, Co Galway, who drove his car at speed for two kilometres eastwards in the westbound lane of the M6 before colliding with the car of Karzan Sabah Ahmed (36), his wife, Shahen Qasim Faris (30), and their eight-month-old daughter, Lina Sabah, killing the family and himself.
The collision occurred on the evening of August 19th, 2021, at Poolboy, Ballinasloe, Co Galway. Mr Lach, of Portumna, Co Galway, had been discharged from Roscommon University Hospital on August 3rd, 2021, having been taken there by gardaà 11 days earlier and held at first as an involuntary psychiatric patient.
Mr Lach had been suffering from mania and psychotic episodes and had to be physically restrained at one stage while in hospital. He was told when he was leaving hospital that it was important that he take his prescribed medicine and stay away from cannabis, the inquest was told by consultant psychiatrist Dr Aengus O’Conghaile.
Dr O’Conghaile said Mr Lach was assessed on August 3rd and had denied that he had ideas of harming himself or others. The team did not identify grounds for Mr Lach’s involuntary detention. He was collected from the hospital by his partner, Ewa Ciastko.
Responding to Dr Joyce, Dr O’Conghaile said the timeframe for a patient to move from acting normally to being psychotic could be accelerated by stress, lack of sleep, substance abuse, and lack of compliance with the taking of prescribed medicines.
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