Teen Reece on phone as he suffered fatal knifing
What lurks beneath the waves of our loughs?
Reece Cullen A TEENAGER who was fatally stabbed was on his phone when he was attacked, it emerged yesterday.
The inquest into the death of Reece Cullen heard a number of youths arrived at his home in Tallaght, South Dublin, at 2.45pm on January 5, 2017.
Reece had been staying at Kilclare Crescent with friends since his mother died four months earlier.
Neighbour John Sutcliffe told Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane: “There were three or four males, aged between 16 and 19. I heard only chit chat – no shouting.”
Minutes later a youth came into his driveway asking for help.
Mr Sutcliffe told Dublin Coroner’s Court: “He said, ‘My mate has been stabbed, can you ring an ambulance?’ His hands were covered in blood.
“[Reece] was lying on the ground a couple of feet inside the front door.”
Paramedic Noel Keegan found Reece unresponsive.
He said: “He was not breathing and he appeared to have a stab wound to the chest.”
Reece was taken to Tallaght Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan found a single stab wound to the heart.
A toxicology report found he had no alcohol or drugs in his system.
Nobody has been charged over Reece’s death.
The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing by person unknown. IRELAND’S Loch Ness Monster exists and lurks beneath our loughs, it was claimed yesterday.
Horse-eels are mythical aquatic beasts and locals around Lough Nahooin and Lough Fadda in Connemara, Co Galway, say they have been regularly sighted.
They are described as having a horse-like head with an elongated eel-shaped body and have been dubbed Ireland’s answer to the Scottish legend.
Now residents at Carlingford Lough claim they’ve seen the creatures and have enlisted the help of naturalist Adrian Shine to help detect the presence of the sea-serpents.
He has spent more than 50 years studying what lurks beneath Loch Ness and has dedicated a life’s work to uncover the truth or otherwise about the monster.
Mr Shine said he is fascinated by Ireland’s horse-eels and told the Irish Mirror: “I believe the witnesses I have met who have seen these creatures sometimes with legs, sometimes without, sometimes eel like.
“I do believe we can find them in nature and in some mist. Ireland is very misty as you know.
“The roots of it have been found in the Viking traditions as they were very strong on sea serpents. There will always be monsters if people want to believe it.”
“I’ve always been fascinated by this business of the horseeels, a very common tradition particularly along the west coast of Ireland where I spoke to witnesses. It was fascinating.”
When Carlingford Lough Ferry Company offered to bring Mr Shine over to investigate he jumped at the chance.
He said: “It gave me a chance to have another look at the folklore element. Twenty years ago I met Irish people who took the existence of these things for granted.
“Nature itself and the species that live in it can produce these unexpected effects upon us.
“I’m semi-sceptical but I vindicated these witnesses instead of impugning them.
“Strange things are seen, sometimes the horse-eels are seen as very big indeed and sometimes they come ashore.
“Sometimes there is a conflation of otters and eels. I came to Carlingford Lough and didn’t find any in the water but I was captured by the landscape itself.
“I went on the ferry and saw a lot of medieval stuff, remember this is a Viking legacy. I looked at other local traditions and you’ve got witches. If the horse-eels exist they should exist there.”
Paul O’sullivan, of Frazer Ferries Group which runs the Carlingford service, said: “The lough is imbued with legend and myths.
“There is no one better placed than Adrian who has spent decades studying Loch Ness to bring our very special part of Ireland to life.
“Over Easter those that took our ferry spotted pods of bottle nose dolphins among other wonders of the water – so who is to say that the mythical horse-eel doesn’t exist?”
Nature itself and the species in it can produce unexpected results
ADRIAN SHINE
CARLINGFORD