This is the man who died after he was attacked by an aggressive Brahma chicken in his own home which had previously pounced on his granddaughter.
Cancer survivor Jasper Kraus, of Killahornia, Creagh, Ballinasloe in Roscommon suffered puncture wounds to his left leg that caused massive bleeding, his inquest heard earlier this week.
His daughter Virginia Guinan said on the morning of April 28, 2022, the day of his death, she dropped groceries to his house at around 12pm.
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During her deposition, Virginia said she went inside but said her dad, who was originally from the Netherlands, was fast asleep.
She said she didn’t want to wake him up because his dog had recently died and she said he was upset.
Virginia was later contacted by Corey O’Keeffe, who was living in her dad’s house at the time, who told her about what had happened.
She rushed to her dad’s house and when she arrived saw blood all over the floor and witnessed paramedics performing CPR on her dad.
Virginia said at the time of the chicken attack, her dad was on a lot of medication.
She also said her dad had been suffering from ill health but at that time, he was in remission from cancer. Virginia said prior to that he had renal failure.
When she arrived, Virginia also noticed that there was a puncture wound to his left leg which caused a massive amount of bleeding. She said the TV was still on in the other room and a cigarette was still smoking.
Virginia also recalled spotting a trail of blood from the house all the way to the chicken house and at that point said she “realised that it must have been the chicken” that caused her dad’s death.
She noticed that one of the chickens had blood on its claws and said she believed it was the culprit because that particular bird had also “attacked my daughter before”.
Jasper’s tenant Corey O’Keeffe, who had been living in the house for two years, said on the day of the animal attack he returned home at 8am after finishing night duty.
Corey said he asked Jasper how he was doing and fed the animals before going to bed but woke up to the Dutchman screaming “come quick”.
Giving evidence, he said blood was coming out of Jasper’s leg.
He noticed a large wound on the calf and said there were two other scratches on his other leg.
Corey called 999 and after he dealt with the cut, the operator told him how to do CPR.
He performed CPR for 25 minutes before the ambulance arrived.
Corey said during this time, Jasper was falling in and out of consciousness but revealed he was saying the word “rooster”.
He said he also noticed the trail of blood which led out towards the chicken house and said the chicken that attacked his landlord was on the property "because it was aggressive before” and had attacked a child at a different house.
During the inquest into his death which was in held in Ballaghaderreen, Garda Eoin Browne said that he was called out to the scene of a sudden death where he was met by paramedics.
The ambulance crew told the officer that they had carried out CPR but it wasn’t successful, according to a report in the Irish Examiner.
Dr Annette Jennings said when she arrived at the scene paramedics were still trying to resuscitate Jasper but said he was pronounced dead at 3:24 pm.
The medic noted that the circumstances of his death were unusual as a wound had been inflicted on his left calf by a chicken.
Jasper’s body was then brought to the mortuary at Roscommon Hospital and later to University College Hospital for a post-mortem.
Dr Ramadan Shatwan, who carried out the autopsy, said that the deceased’s face was covered in dry blood but there were no cuts to his face.
The doctor, who gave evidence at the inquest, also said that both Jasper’s lower limbs were covered in blood.
Dr Ramadan concluded that the cause of death was due to lethal cardiac arrhythmia in the context of severe coronary atheroma and cardiomegaly.
When asked by Virginia if her dad had a heart attack, he agreed and said another contributory factor was that the blood supply to the man’s heart was “severely calcified”.
Virginia said the family knew Jasper’s heart “was bad”.
She went on to say she had to clean up her dad’s blood in the house and argued that there should be support for people who find themselves in the situation.
Virginia said if it had been a murder and not an accident that there would be help available to clean up.
Coroner Mr. Brian O’Connor, said that Jasper’s death was in accordance with the autopsy report.
Mr O’Connor then expressed sympathies to the family and said it was a “dreadful experience”
He also praised Corey and said did everything he could to help.
Mr O'Connor recorded a verdict of misadventure.
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