A Co Kildare woman who raised the possibility of another person being involved in her brother's death yesterday lost her High Court challenge to the outcome of the inquest into his death. A coroner's court jury returned an open verdict saying the medical cause of death could not be ascertained.
The body of Mr Noel Sayers who lived at Shamrock Flats, Geraldine Street, Athy, Co Kildare, was found at his home on June 5th, 1996, five days after he was last seen alive.
The High Court was told a full post-mortem examination could not be carried out the next day because of the advanced state of decomposition of the body. A definite anatomical cause of death was not ascertained.
In a reserved judgment on Mrs Mary Hanley's challenge, Ms Justice McGuinness said gardai found no suspicious circumstances to indicate foul play, third-party involvement or suicide.
A coroner's jury on February 17th, 1997, brought in an open verdict saying the medical cause of death was not ascertained.
In judicial review proceedings, Mrs Hanley alleged the coroner for Kildare, Dr Denis Cusack, had acted contrary to constitutional and natural justice in failing to have a full post-mortem examination carried out and said he erred in law in failing to ascertain how, when and where her brother's death occurred.
Dr Cusack, in an affidavit submitted during the hearing, said the cause of death was not established in some 5-10 per cent of cases where post-mortems were carried out.
Ms Justice McGuinness said the coroner said it was highly improbable that any further evidence would be discovered even if a second post-mortem examination after exhumation was carried out.
While the matter of a post-mortem examination was for the discretion of a coroner, the holding of an inquest was mandatory where the coroner was of the opinion that death may have occurred in certain circumstances.
On the evidence as a whole, the coroner's procedures were in accordance with natural and constitutional justice, the judge said.
Dismissing the application, the judge said Mrs Hanley had not produced any evidence that there was any relevant evidence which was not available at the inquest.