“Significant deficiencies” in law force end to bid to compel killer to testify

The DUBLIN city coroner said yesterday that “significant deficiencies” in legislation had forced him to abandon plans to compel convicted killer Mark Nash to give evidence at an inquest.

Brian Farrell had issued a summons to Nash to appear at an inquest into the violent deaths of two women near the grounds of a psychiatric hospital in Dublin five years ago.

However, Dr Farrell told Dublin Coroners Court yesterday that he did not believe he could compel Nash to attend the inquest into the deaths of patients Sylvia Shields, 57, and Mary Callinan, 61, under current legislation.

It followed Nash’s refusal to attend the inquest last month over fears for his personal safety.

The two women were found dead in their sheltered accommodation near Grangegorman, Dublin, in 1997. Nash, a prime suspect in the case, is serving a life sentence for the murders of his girlfriend’s sister, Catherine Doyle, and her husband, Carl, in Roscommon in August 1997.

The coroner expressed “grave” concern that “glaring anomalies” in the law relating to inquests had not been addressed by the legislature, despite being highlighted over the past few years. He claimed it was against the public interest that such anomalies should be allowed to continue.

Earlier, Dr Farrell rejected arguments by lawyers for the DPP and Nash that his evidence to the inquest could prejudice the witness and some related future criminal trial.

Dr Farrell said Nash’s constitutional rights would have been protected as there was no question of any evidence being allowed that would raise the question of civil or criminal liability.

“It is simply not good enough that a witness refuses to attend an inquest,” Dr Farrell said.

He also noted that the Supreme Court had declared that the maximum fine of £5 for such a refusal was “an inadequate sanction”.

Dr Farrell claimed the same Supreme Court ruling on the attendance of witnesses at inquests had found a relevant section of the Coroners Act 1962 unconstitutional.

Nevertheless, the coroner said he could ask the Attorney-General to take a High Court action in order to compel Nash to attend the inquest. However, he believed that such a case was unlikely to succeed in light of the Supreme Court judgement because it would need to be proven that a witness’s evidence was essential for the inquest to be completed.

Nash, from Huddersfield, became a suspect after he signed a statement in which he revealed details about the Grangegorman killings which gardaí believed could only have been known to the attacker. However, he later retracted the statement.

The inquest resumes on Wednesday.