Crystal Dike
It was supposed to be an ordinary evening in Dublin. Ann-Marie O’Gorman, 46, had drawn herself a warm bath, her iPhone plugged in just a few feet away. But what seemed like a simple act of relaxation ended in tragedy.
On October 30, 2024, her husband, Joe O’Gorman, returned home to a scene that would haunt him forever—his wife motionless in the water, the phone and charging cable submerged beside her.
At the Dublin District Coroner’s Court this week, the stark details were laid bare. Experts testified that the phone had been plugged into a wall socket, and when it slipped into the bath, electricity coursed through the water. Contact with nearby metal fittings completed the deadly circuit. Forensic examiners confirmed what the burns on her body already told them: death by electrocution, not drowning, not illness—just a modern danger that looks deceptively harmless.
Coroner Dr. Cróna Gallagher called it a case of death by misadventure, but her warning carried weight far beyond the courtroom. Charging a phone in the bath, she stressed, is as dangerous as holding a live wire over water. Waterproof claims on devices, she noted, mean nothing when electricity is involved.
Joe O’Gorman has since turned his grief into a plea. “People hear waterproof and think it’s safe,” he said softly, “but consumers are being misled. These tragedies can be avoided.” His words echo a growing concern as Google searches for “iPhone electrocution in bath” and “phone charging near water dangers” spike across Ireland and beyond.
The story has reignited global conversations around mobile phone safety. In an age when our devices never leave our side, the tragedy of Ann-Marie O’Gorman is a sobering reminder: technology may be powerful, but electricity near water remains merciless.