This article is from page 1 of the 2013-04-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
THE family of Ennis man Frank Hassett whose dead body was concealed in a shower for 19 days say questions remain unanswered about the circumstances of his death.
Mr Hassett’s badly decomposed body was discovered by gardaí in an apartment at Lifford Lodge on July 3, 2011.
The 25 year old had been reported missing in Ennis by his family on June 20, 2011.
He died sometime between the hours of June 14 and 15, 2012, in a bed-sit rented by Ennis man Bernard Flaherty (38).
In February, Mr Flaherty, with an address at 3 Lifford Lodge, received a three year suspended sentence at Clare Circuit Criminal Court after pleading guilty to making a false statement to gardaí on June 24, 2011.
An inquest into the death of Mr Hassett yesterday returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
Speaking afterwards at Ennis Courthouse, the deceased’s brother Ian Hassett said; “In one way it’s good it’s over, but we still have a lot of questions we don’t have the answers for.”
Asked about the suspended sentence handed down to Bernard Flaherty, Ian Hassett said the family are ‘not happy with it but what can we do’. He added; “The whole justice system in Ireland is a shambles.”
During the inquest, Mr Flaherty said; “I apologise to the Hassett family for the hell I put them through and the guards for wasting Garda time…If I could turn back the clock, I would. I really would.”
Mr Flaherty told gardaí that he panicked because he didn’t know what to do when he discovered Frank Hassett was dead.