A TRACE OF cocaine was found in a young boy who suffered fatal brain injuries after his neck became entangled in the cord of a window blind in his home last year, an inquest has heard.

Braxton Lee Gethins (4) passed away at Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street in Dublin on 12 October 2025, where he had been transferred from Sligo University Hospital.

It followed an incident in his home at Langan Drive, Cranmore, Sligo on the afternoon of 10 October 2025.

An inquest into Braxton’s death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Wednesday heard the boy, who was autistic and non-verbal, had been living with a relative as his mother, Sherryl Farrell, was already caring for another child with additional needs.

Ms Farrell wept openly as she described being at home with her other two children and her father when a neighbour came running and shouting to inform her that her son was dead.

She recalled running around to the home of her aunt, Louise Flynn, who had cared for Braxton since he was seven-months-old, who said to her: “I’m so sorry.”

Ms Farrell said her aunt explained that her son had choked on a blind cord.

The witness said she was told not to go into the house but she insisted.

“Braxton was my son and I wasn’t going to stay out,” she added.

Ms Farrell said she found him on the floor of the kitchen where several of her cousins were performing CPR on him.

She told the inquest that she could see a mark on his neck which looked like it had come from the beaded cord of a blind, while he had also been sick.

In reply to questions from coroner Clare Keane, Ms Farrell said she had last seen her son a week earlier.

Ms Farrell, who formally identified her son’s body to gardaí, described him as “a quiet, happy, little boy”.

“He showed everyone around him how happy he was,” she recalled.

In evidence, Ms Flynn said Braxton had been playing earlier that day on a trampoline before he began playing in the kitchen while she was there with a friend.

Ms Flynn said she went to the bathroom for a few minutes after her friend left and could not see the boy when she returned to the kitchen.

She shouted out “where’s my baby” – which she pointed out Braxton loved to hear – but got no response.

Ms Flynn said she checked a gate, but it was locked before thinking: “Where the hell is he?”

As she was returning to the kitchen, she outlined how she saw him “hanging from the blind cord” through the patio door before running over and taking him down.

Ms Flynn said she laid the boy on the ground and shouted for a relative who was visiting her son upstairs for help.

The inquest heard several relatives carried out CPR on Braxton until paramedics arrived on the scene.

Ms Flynn said he had never played with the blinds in the kitchen before, although he loved jumping around furniture.

She confirmed to Dr Keane that the blind cord was attached to a wall and was not hanging loosely.

Ms Flynn stated Braxton would not have been able to reach the cord without standing on furniture and only then by reaching over.

Garda Cian Erraught confirmed that a garda investigation concluded the boy’s death was a tragic accident.

The inquest heard brain-death tests were carried out on Braxton in CHI at Temple Street which showed doctors that his injuries were “not survivable”.

Medical records showed he had suffered a cardiac arrest for 50 minutes.

The coroner revealed that urine tests carried out in the hospital had detected the presence of cocaine in the boy’s body which a consultant paediatrician had described as “highly unusual”.

Dr Keane said another test by the State laboratory found a “barely detectable” level of a breakdown by-product of the drug.

She observed that the level of cocaine found had “no toxicological significance”, with a similar finding made in relation to traces of an antihistamine found in his body.

A postmortem confirmed Braxton had died from brain injuries which resulted from a cardiac arrest due to strangulation from a blind cord.

The coroner noted that the pathologist found there were no other contributory factors in the boy’s death, while doctors at CHI at Temple Street were satisfied the presence of cocaine had not played any role in his injuries.

Dr Keane noted the care that had been taken to make the blind cord safe as the biggest risk factor had been addressed with it being fixed to a wall.

However, the coroner noted that the other risk was the proximity of furniture to the cord, although she acknowledged that Braxton would have had to still lean over to reach it.

Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, Dr Keane observed that it was the nature of such fatal incidents that they “happen in a flash”.

She offered her condolences to a large group of the boy’s relatives who attended the hearing on their “devastating heartbreak”.