Jury difficulties forces re-start of inquest of Achill Garda and Belmullet youth

Jury difficulties forces re-start of inquest of Achill Garda and Belmullet youth


Anton McNulty

THE inquest into the death of a garda and a 19-year-old man who died following a traffic accident outside Belmullet in 2009 will have to be reheard in full following difficulties involving the jury.
Garda Terence Dever (48) from Achill and Stephen Conway from Inver, Barnatra both died following a two car collision at Attycunnane, Belmullet in the early hours of May 9, 2009. The inquest into their deaths was due to be completed last week after it was part heard last November but Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald, the North Mayo coroner, decided to restart the inquest at a later date after one of the jurors was unable to attend.
The inquest, which was held in Ballina Courthouse, heard that the juror who was present at the previous hearing was unable to attend because of family reasons and it was proposed to swear to another person as a replacement.
However following legal consultation, Dr Fitzgerald said she would not be able to do this and because the missing juror may not be available for a number of days, she said she was considering adjourning the inquest, and fixing a new date.
Following further conversation with the legal representatives of the Dever and Conway families, Dr Fitzgerald explained that she would adjourn the inquest and hear all the evidence again.
“Following consideration we will proceed with the adjournment to a future date and will start the inquest from the beginning with all the evidence presented. Following the disturbance to the procedure it will be the best way to do it and we will endeavour to hear it as soon as possible and within the next month,” she said.
A time and date for the resumption of the inquest has not yet been set but Dr Fitzgerald apologised to the families and the witnesses who were to give evidence saying that what happened was ‘unexpected’ and it was with ‘deep regret that this has happened’.
At last Novembers hearing, up to 15 witnesses - including gardaí, civilians, fire service personnel, ambulance personnel - gave evidence and more evidence and reports were due to be heard at last week’s hearing. The inquest heard that Garda Dever - a married father-of-three - and Mr Conway were involved in what was described as a ‘horrific collision’ which occurred at approximately 5.50am when Garda Dever was on his way to work at Belmullet Garda station.
Both men died from multiple fatal injuries and Dr Fadel Bennani, Consultant Pathologist had explained that they had little chance of survival after the head on collision. Mr Conway died at the scene while Garda Dever died a number of hours later at Mayo General Hospital.