Harvey Dominy died hours after arriving at the popular Spanish resorts for his first lads’ holiday, an inquest heard.
A young man died just hours after arriving at a popular Spanish resort for his first pals holiday, an inquest has heard. Harvey Dominy, from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales was found on the floor of his hotel room in Benidorm in July 2024.
An inquest at Pontypridd Coroners’ Court heard that cocaine, MDMA and alcohol were found in his system. The inquest heard that Mr Dominy had gone to the destination with three friends for a week-long lads’ holiday.
He began struggling to breathe and collapsed on the hotel room floor in front of friends Liam Mason and Levi Davies, Wales Online reports.
The hearing was told that Mr Mason sent a video to a Snapchat group chat showing Mr Dominy seated in a chair on the balcony, his body slumped forward. Later that evening, he sent a second video showing Mr Dominy lying on the floor looking “grey”. He also sent a message saying: “He’s gone.”
The inquest heard that Mr Dominy’s best friend, Liam Llewellyn, had left the hotel earlier as he was staying in separate accommodation. He received a call to say Mr Dominy was unwell and said his friend had been talking before he left at 8.30pm, adding he had “no concerns” at the time.
Mr Dominy was staying on the 15th floor of a hotel with a broken lift when his condition worsened, the inquest heard. Mr Davies said the friends did not know the local emergency services number, so Mr Mason left the room to alert hotel staff.
Giving evidence, Mr Davies said: “Harvey started to feel unwell. He said he he felt sick and then he was sick.” He added that he gave Mr Dominy water before he began struggling to breathe.
“A short time after Harvey then lay on the floor and started struggling to breathe. I don’t remember him collapsing. I tried to give him more water but he would spit it back out. I had never seen Harvey in that type of state before.”
The inquest heard that the friends had bought cocaine and MDMA after arriving in Benidorm and took the drugs together on July 16, 2024.
During the inquest, Mr Dominy’s family raised concerns about the timeline of events, saying they believed there had been a delay in getting medical attention for him. They described Mr Dominy as “extremely loved” and someone with “lots of friends”.
Spanish police reports estimated that Mr Dominy died between 9pm and 10.30pm. Emergency services arrived at 10.47pm and confirmed he had “no vital signs”.
A post-mortem examination gave the medical cause of death as cardiac respiratory arrest, with the underlying cause recorded as an acute reaction to psychoactive substances. Toxicology reports showed alcohol, cocaine and MDMA in his system.
Concluding the evidence, coroner Kerrie Burge acknowledged there were “numerous inconsistencies” in the evidence given, including who sought help from reception and whether CPR was given. But she said the inconsistencies were not surprising as drugs and alcohol would have “affected their recollection”.
She confirmed the medical cause of death as acute reaction to psychoactive substances (1B) and cardiac arrest (1A), recording Mr Dominy’s death as drug-related. She expressed her condolences to the family.
Shortly after his brother’s death, McKenzy Lee-Dominy said he was still grieving the loss of their mother. Mr Lee-Dominy, who is a published author, said: “I have a good group of friends but I had to grow up fast when mum died and then my brother dying. Now I feel allowed to cry and we learned to do that together as a family.
“Despite facing some horrible tragedies recently, I know that I need to keep writing to keep living. It’s through my writing that I’ve discovered the beautiful aspects of grief, and I hope that by sharing my experiences through stories, I can help others understand and process their own emotions.”
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