Welsh farmer, 58, died after a bull crushed him against a brick wall as he worked with his wife and son, inquest hears
- Maldwyn Harries, 58, was killed in south Wales last year after a bull crushed him
A Welsh farmer who has been described as a ‘significant member’ of the rural community died when a bull crushed him against a brick wall, an inquest into his death heard.
Maldwyn Harries, 58, was killed at Cefn Rhiwlas near Llandeilo, south Wales, on September 23, last year, as he worked with his wife and son.
Maldwyn, with his son Mark, wife Gillian and a farm vet had been testing the farm animals for TB on the Friday morning.
Mrs Harries told Paul Bennett, acting senior coroner for Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, that Mr Harries had tried to push the bull backwards out of a stall and into a crush so it could be tagged by the vet.
The bull was used to going through the yard and the milking parlour twice a day and it had been through the crush earlier that day, she said.
Maldwyn Harries, 58, (right) was killed at Cefn Rhiwlas near Llandeilo on September 23, last year, as he worked with his wife and son (left)
Also at the inquest at Llanelli Town Hall on Friday was Simon Breen, from the Health and Safety Executive and he explained how Mr Harries had been in the stall next to the bull and tapped the bull on the nose to encourage it to reverse out.
Mr Breen said the bull would ‘normally respond by backing out’.
But on this occasion it didn’t and Mr Harries ducked under the rails between the two stalls and tried again.
Mr Breen said: ‘Somehow the bull decided to go forward rather than back.’
Mr Harries was crushed between the animal and the wall and suffered ‘multiple traumatic injuries’ to his chest, abdomen, and spine.
The bull was quickly removed from the area by Mark Harries and was later destroyed as it had tested positive for TB.
Despite the best efforts of medical workers, including the air ambulance, who treated him with six pints of blood, Mr Harries died at the scene.
Also at the inquest at Llanelli Town Hall (pictured) on Friday was Simon Breen, from the Health and Safety Executive and he explained how Mr Harries had been in the stall next to the bull and tapped the bull on the nose to encourage it to reverse out (File image)
A post-mortem examination carried out by Dr Petya Nedeva gave the medical cause of death as ‘multiple chest, abdominal, and spinal traumatic injuries’ caused by ‘accidental crushing by a bull’.
In a report read out by coroner’s officer Hayley Rogers it was heard that Mr Harries was a self-employed farmer at the Carmarthenshire family farm.
After listening to the ‘tragic account’ of events Mr Bennett said: ‘This is sadly one of those unusual and infrequent occasions where someone has died in the context of doing their very valuable work as part of the farming community in this country and in the course of that has put themselves into a situation sadly of risk that led, as we know, to Mr Harries sustaining significant traumatic crush injuries from which he subsequently died.’
He added that he couldn’t imagine how Mr Harries’ death had affected Mrs Harries ‘both as his wife and family but also as a significant member of the farming community’.
Mr Bennett said Mr Harries’ death was clearly an accident as a ‘non-intended consequence’ of going about ‘the day-to-day part of the farming routine’. He recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
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