No charges being brought over MMA fighter Joao Carvalho’s death

No criminal charges will be brought in relation to the death of a mixed martial arts fighter who died after a fight in Dublin last year.

Joao Carvalho (28) died due to blunt force trauma to the head, after he was knocked during a Total Extreme Fighting contest at the National Boxing Stadium on April 10th.

A postmortem found that Mr Carvalho suffered an acute subdural hemorrhage following the fight and died at Beaumont Hospital two days later on April 11th 2016.

An inquest into the Portuguese fighter’s death, which opened last December at Dublin Coroner’s Court, heard that no criminal charges will be brought in relation to the incident.

“We submitted a file to the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] for consideration and the DPP directed no prosecution in this case,” Inspector Paul Cleary of Kevin Street Garda station told the court.

DI Cleary applied for a hearing date for the full inquest. A number of witnesses including members of Mr Carvalho's family based in the UK and in Portugal are expected to travel to Dublin for the inquest.

“We have family members in the UK and in Portugal and we will arrange with them now that we have a hearing date for the inquest,” DI Cleary said.

“I know his brother who is based in the UK will want to be here,” DI Cleary added.

The MMA fighter’s sudden death became the subject of two investigations, one carried out and completed by An Garda Siochana and separate investigation by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).

Details of the HSA report are likely to be heard at the full inquest. The case will be heard before a jury and Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said“some preparatory matters” would be dealt with in relation to the case ahead of the inquest. Dr Cullinane then adjourned the inquest for full hearing this September.