This article is from page 11 of the 2007-12-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
THE inquest into the death of a young man who died after he was slashed in the throat at an Ennis pub was delayed for over 16 years due to a mix-up, it has emerged.
The inquest into the death of Cork native Robert Lynch (22) at Ennis Coroner’s Court yesterday was told the Coroner was not aware the in- quest had never been held.
Coroner Isobel O’Dea said the in- quest into the young gardener’s death wasn’t held previously as “I wasn’t aware it hadn’t been held until now.”
“The file was completed at very Short notice,’ said the Coroner. She immediately scheduled the inquest, after she was made aware it had not taken place.
In 1992, Christopher Cooney (42) was convicted of the murder of Mr Lynch, at the Banner Arms.
Cooney had an address in Shan- non at the time. His family has since moved to west Clare.
Retired Sergeant Phil Coll told En- nis Coroner’s Court yesterday that he was the sergeant-in-charge at Ennis garda station on February 17, 1991.
He received a call to go to the Ban- ner Arms where there had been a fa- Ye eel) patee
He went to the scene and the body of Robert Lynch had been removed to Ennis General Hospital.
The inquest was told that attempts by medical staff to resuscitate Mr Lynch were unsuccessful.
Retired State Pathologist Dr John Harbison carried out the post mortem examination on Mr Lynch’s body. Dr Harbison is retired and current State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy out- lined the details of the post mortem to the inquest.
She said that Mr Lynch had suffered one “major injury,” a large cut to the front of the neck, which stretched ‘from one side to the other.”
The wound, she said, was “fairly deep” and “cut through muscles.”
“There was no evidence of any oth- er significant injuries to the body,” she said.
Death was due to the inhalation of blood, as a result of an incised wound to the neck, concluded Dr Harbison.
‘He was not in a position to say which direction the weapon was drawn,” said Dr Cassidy.
Ms O’Dea pointed out that a mur- der conviction had been recorded in court, in this case.
‘There is sufficient evidence to es- tablish the deceased met his death by murder” and the jury agreed a ver- dict in accordance with this.
The details surrounding Mr Lynch’s death were brought to light earlier this year when it emerged that Fianna Fail Deputy Tony Killeen’s constitu- ency office made enquiries about the release of Mr Cooney.
Those revelations enraged Mr Lynch’s mother Nora, who criticised Mr Killeen and said the representa- tions caused more heartache for the family. The politician said he was unaware of his office making the representations and he visited Mrs Lynch in Bantry.
Mrs Lynch didn’t attend yesterday’s inquest, but her daughter Bernie was present.