Closing statements urged jury to return unlawful killing verdict

LAWYERS for the victims’ families used their closing statements at the inquest to urge the jury to return a verdict of unlawful killing.

Michael O’Higgins said the credibility of Eamon Butterly had been ‘shredded beyond redemption’ during the inquest, telling the jury that they were entitled to bring in a verdict of unlawful killing so the families could be satisfied that the basis upon which their loved ones died was accurately recorded.

Des Fahy, meanwhile, asked the jury to begin the process of giving dignity back to the victims who had died in ‘apocalyptic’ circumstances.

Bernard Condon told the jury that the Stardust staff had inadequate training, adding: ‘Lack of training is delay, and delay equals death.’

Seán Guerin, in his closing remarks, said that the victims’ families had ‘waited longer than Moses wandered in the desert without justice’.

In her closing statement, Brenda Campbell said the failures outlined were causative of the deaths that followed.

‘And that being the evidence, the conclusion must be that the 48 victims of the Stardust fire were unlawfully killed,’ Ms Campbell said.

‘Sunlight really is a powerful disinfectant, and the sunlight that, with the coroner’s judgement and care, has been shed on the evidence of what happened to those 48 young people has gone a long way in removing the stains, the rumours, the lies, the mistakes that have haunted the families of the Stardust victims since before the embers of that fire even went out,’ she added.

Ms Campbell told the jury that it was now over to them to ‘write the last chapter’ of the Stardust story.

Her comments echoed those of June McDermott, whose three siblings – William, George and Marcella – died in the fire. Almost a year before the jury were to begin their deliberations, Ms McDermott had told them: ‘The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so for them.’