MURDERED JASTINE KILLED BY ASPHYXIA
MURDER victim Jastine Valdez died of asphyxia, an inquest into her death heard yesterday.
The 24-year-old student was abducted in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, on May 19 by psycho Mark Hennessy.
She had taken the 5.40pm bus from Bray to Enniskerry and arrived in the village around 6pm before being bundled into a car.
A witness who saw her being forced into the boot of a Nissan Qashqai rang 999.
Her body was discovered at around 3pm the following Monday in dense woodland at Rathmichael, South Dublin.
The previous night, Garda caught up with drink and drug-addled Hennessy, 40, and shot him dead at Cherrywood Business Park in Dublin.
It later emerged the twisted kidnapper was leading a shocking double life, abusing cocaine, drinking heavily and using dating app Tinder to meet women behind his wife’s back.
No relations of Jastine were present for the opening of an inquest into her death Scene in Dublin at Dublin Coroner’s Court. A liaison officer has been appointed to the Valdez family. Det Insp Frank Keenaghan applied to the court for a three-month adjournment of the case.
Mr Keenaghan said: “The family will be back in the jurisdiction at that stage and we will have a clearer picture.”
Ms Valdez’s parents Danny and Tess travelled to the city morgue on May 22 to identify their daughter’s remains. A statement from Mr Valdez was read out in court. He said he travelled to the city with officer Patrick Mackey of Bray Garda station.
He added: “There I saw my daughter Jastine and I identified her as my daughter.”
The formal procedure took place in a viewing room at 6.10pm.
A postmortem conducted by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan gave the cause of death as asphyxia.
Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane adjourned the inquest for further mention to March 14 next year and extended the condolences of the court to the Valdez family.