Gerrard Kaonga
A foolish prank ended up having the worst conclusion as a man was rushed to hospital only to later die from his injuries.
Between friends, pranks are pretty normal. Sometimes it is just to make them look a little silly, other times it's to see them embarrassed beyond belief, but this one prank definitely didn’t have the desired result.
Brit 22-year-old Conner Groom died after an incident with himself and his friends at golfing range, Topgolf in Chigwell, Essex.
Groom was there for a work Christmas party in December 2021 and a recent inquest into his death has shed more light into his death.
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The inquest was held in Chelmsford in May 2024 and it was revealed the group had been ‘drinking heavily’ after travelling via coach from Weeley, near Clacton-on-Sea, to the golf venue on 21 December.
They arrived around 7pm and drank alcohol at the bar before heading to their booth on the second floor of the two-story venue an hour later.
The inquest heard how the group had been ‘having a laugh’ by pushing each other into the safety net at the end of the golfing bays.
They were warned by staff on several occasions to stop ‘messing around’. At this point, Groom had already been pushed into the netting twice and pushed one of his friends into the netting as well.
Just after 10pm Groom was up to take a shot at the driving range when one of his friends told another that he intended to push Groom into the netting once again.
The friend, Ben Gardner, then came running from behind after the shot, making Groom fall over the safety net and fall about 12 ft.
His leg is believed to have gotten caught in the netting as he fell meaning Groom fell face first to the ground below with ‘no control whatsoever over how he landed’.
The security guard who was on site, Dion McKenzie said his friend rushed down the stairs and repeatedly said to Groom: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” as he lay on the floor with blood coming from his nose.
Groom was then the Royal London Hospital that night but would die on January 25, 2022.
The cause of death that was given a hypoxic brain injury by traumatic spinal cord injury, according to a Mail Online report.
Gardner was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm without intent, but the charges were later dropped.
Essex senior coroner Lincoln Brookes would conclude that Groom died due to a misadventure resulting from ‘inebriated but not malicious horseplay’.