Six year delay into Paud’s inquest is ‘outrageous and unacceptable’

THE family of the late Paud O’Leary, who was killed in a hit and run accident six years ago, have called for changes to how inquests take place following the lengthy delay the grieving family had to face.

The family solicitor, Padraig O’Connell, said that the delay in hearing the inquest was “outrageous” and “unacceptable”.

The inquest into Mr O’Leary’s death took place last Thursday, almost a full six years, since he was killed while out cycling on July 1, 2012 while in training for the Ring of Kerry cycle.

The inquest had been opened previously by former South Kerry Coroner, Terence Casey, but was adjourned pending a criminal trial.

On April 23, 2015 Shane Fitzgerald of Knockeen, Meelin, Newmarket, was found guilty of dangerous driving causing death following the accident on July 1, 2012. He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

Mr Fitzgerald had left the country the day after the accident, travelling to the UK and Australia, and was arrested in February 2014 in Heathrow Airport.

At the inquest in Killarney this week, which returned a verdict of accidental death, Mr O’Leary’s wife, Margaret, criticised the delay into his inquest. “It is quite difficult to dredge it up again. It’s terrible really. It’s six years on, you have a lot of suffering done and you are back where you don’t want to be.”

“We talk about him every day and we are devastated that he is not with us. It is terrible that he is not there to celebrate with us.” “There is always going to be a void.” Following the inquest, her solicitor Padraig O’Connell, said that changes are needed to the inquest system.

“There is a question mark as to how it took three years from the verdict to now. The Law Reform Commission should examine the system with a view to addressing how these are dealt with in the future,” he said outside Killarney court.

“Are they fit for purpose? Yes. Are they speedy? No,” he said.

He said that Mrs O’Leary is totally devastated by what happened and that she believes the defendant was “utterly callous to leave a man lying there without medical attention”.

He added that the jury’s verdict should have included ‘dangerous driving’ like the Circuit Court trial.

Coroner for South and East Kerry, Aisling O’Sullivan Quilter, said at the opening of the inquest that there are “no issues to be tried” and that the inquest was solely to rule on the circumstances of Mr O’Leary’s death.

42-year-old, Paud O’Leary, from Leam Gneeveguilla, was found dead less than half a mile from his home, after he was struck by a hit and run driver, while out training for the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle. Mr O’Leary was found by his brother-in-law Gerry O’Callaghan at Scrahan Fada, Gneeveguilla, after he and others began searching for Mr O’Leary when he failed to return home from his morning cycle.

Mr O’Callaghan and his wife, went out in their car and not far from Mr O’Leary’s home they noted debris on a line on the edge of the road and a black rucksack on the hedge. They found Mr O’Leary inside the hedge down a deep dyke, about three to four feet down, with his bike on top of him.

“I checked his pulse. He was stone cold. I could see from the road that he was dead.”

Mrs O’Leary told the inquest that she had to sit down in her sitting room and tell her children what happened “that a car had come along, hit Dad and drove away”.

She said that their four children – two girls and two boys, Shannon, Antoinette, Ross and Paudie, all said “they wanted their Dad and that they wanted to see him” and that she hadn’t wanted them to see him but in the end they had.

She said that her husband was a “hard working family man” and that he was “mad about his children”.

She said that he was not home at 10am when she was leaving for Mass and that she rang him again afterwards to see if he was taking the boys to football. She was worried and began ringing gardaí to see if there had been an accident.

She said that she had gone to the scene of the accident but that she had not touched him or gone near him.

Dr Hild, the SouthDoc Doctor, who attended the scene said that he was “struck by the distance the body was from the road” and that the debris and this “suggested a major impact” to him.

Garda James O’Brien’s deposition to the inquest said that severe abrasions and impact marks suggested that Mr O’Leary had been struck by a passing vehicle which was not at the scene.

He examined the debris at the scene and drew the conclusion that it came from a Japanese made vehicle, more than likely a Toyota metallic grey in colour and manufactured in the years 2003 -2011. He also said that he had formed the opinion that the jeep had been coming from the opposite direction to Mr O’Leary and had crossed into the incorrect lane to hit the pedal cyclist and that the driver would have been aware of the impact.

The post-mortem concluded that Mr O’Leary had died due to swelling of the brain and upper spinal cord damage and the jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

South Kerry Coroner Aisling Quilter, praised Garda for their exemplary work in identifying the vehicle from the bumper. This work was also praised by Mr O’Connell.

Paud O’Leary