An 11-year-old boy who was murdered in Limerick four years ago died from blood loss after being beaten with a hammer and stabbed over 20 times by his uncle, his inquest heard on Wednesday.
A jury at Limerick Coroner’s Court found that Brooklyn Colbert (11), with an address at Aherlow Close, Caherdavin, died by “unlawful killing”.
The boy’s uncle, Paddy Dillon, of Moyross, Limerick, who was 26 at the time, struck his nephew across the head with a hammer and stabbed him 27 times in a frenzied attack at Dillon’s aunt’s home at Ballynanty Beg, Limerick, on November 3rd, 2019.
The postmortem on the body, carried out by State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, revealed Brooklyn had tried to defend himself during the attack and that his death was “very rapid”.
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Brooklyn sustained “blunt force trauma from a blow” to his head, and the “depressed fracture of his skull was in keeping with a blow of a hammer”.
He also sustained “sharp force trauma” from “twenty-seven stab wounds”.
“Significant force was used by way of a single cutting edge knife with a 13cm blade.”
Dr Bolster found that death was due to “haemorrhage, bleeding and shock, due to multiple stab wounds”.
On the day of the murder, a neighbour provided a deposition in which she said she had spoken to Dillon and Brooklyn, who were both in happy form smiling and laughing together.
The woman said her last sighting of the close pair was of them walking together into Dillon’s aunt’s house.
After killing his nephew Dillon walked to a Garda station and immediately confessed to the murder.
Dillon pleaded guilty before the Central Criminal Court in 2021 and was sentenced to the mandatory sentence of life in jail for the murder.
Coroner, John McNamara, and Garda Inspector Gary Thompson of Bruff Garda station, offered their sympathies and condolences to members of the boy’s family, including his mother Sonia Aylmer, who attended at the inquest hearing, held at Kilmallock Courthouse, Co Limerick.
Mr McNamara said Dr Bolster’s autopsy report was “not for the faint-hearted” and he suggested to the family that only a “summary” of the full 20-page autopsy report be heard due to the “harrowing” evidence.
Ms Aylmer told the coroner that she would remain in the courtroom to listen to a summarised version of the report.
In her deposition, Ms Aylmer said that having looked back prior to the murder, she believed Dillon, her stepbrother, had developed an “obsession” with her only son.
She said Dillon would refer to Brooklyn as “my king” and she remembered he was “always hugging” Brooklyn.
“I think he wanted to kill Brooklyn and then himself so that they could both be together in heaven,” Ms Aylmer wrote.
Brooklyn, his mother and Dillon, had spent the previous day together, eating-out in Limerick city, buying sweets, and watching movies.
Detective Inspector James Ruddle, Roxboro Road Garda station, who was the first emergency responder on the scene, told the inquest that when he approached the front door of No 11 Shanabooley Road, Ballynanty Beg, he could see blood on the inside of the door’s glass panelling.
Gardaí forced open the front door, and Detective Insp Ruddle found Brooklyn’s lifeless body “on the kitchen floor which was covered in blood”.
“Brooklyn Colbert was lying on his stomach, his eyes were closed, he was not breathing, there was no sign of life.”
Detective Insp Ruddle said he also observed “a hammer with blood on the handle lying close to (Brooklyn’s) head”.
Brooklyn’s father Wayne Colbert, wrote in his deposition which was read out on his behalf by gardaí, that he “identified the body of my lovely boy” at the morgue at University Hospital Limerick later that night.
Speaking after the inquest, Brooklyn’s mother, Sonia Aylmer, said it had been “a very hard day” but it had helped bring her some “closure”.
She thanked people “for keeping Brooklyn’s memory alive”, and she said Brooklyn, her only child, was “a special boy” who left “a legacy” of kindness in his short life.
“He will live on forever, his legacy will live on, I will make sure of that.”