Inquest laws are obsolete, says coroner

LAWS relating to inquests are outmoded and inadequate, the Dublin City Coroner said after a jury returned an unlawful killing verdict in the case of two elderly women murdered in their sheltered homes.

At the end of one of the longest running and most controversial inquests ever heard in the State, coroner Brian Farrell delivered his own damning verdict on a structure that he claims does not serve modern society.

Mr Farrell was particularly frustrated by his lack of power to force a witness to give what could have been vital evidence in the inquest into the deaths of Sylvia Shields, 57, and Mary Callinan, 61, the two woman brutally attacked and murdered in 1997 in their home in the grounds of a hospital in north inner city Dublin.

“I would like the law amended,” he saidafter the jury’s unanimous verdict. The 40-year-old law allows for a fine of just 6 for refusing to give evidence.

The solicitor for the family of one of the murder victims, Michael Finucane, said they were considering what further legal action should be taken, but one of the options is to launch a High Court case questioning the way inquests are conducted.

Mr Finucane, representing Stella Nolan, sister of Ms Shields, questioned not only the lack of power to force witnesses to give evidence but also the inability of the coroner to compel State agencies, in this case the gardaí, to hand over information that may have helped a jury make a recommendation. The jury did not make any recommendation and has only limited powers to do so.

But Mr Finucane argued throughout that the jury had not been given all the information and had asked them to recommend a public inquiry.

Counsel for the gardaí argued against this and the coroner agreed it was not within their power to do so.

Mr Finucane wanted the prime suspect for the murders, Mark Nash, to give oral evidence and for two confessions he allegedly made to gardaí to be read into the record.

“The gardaí have not been forthcoming as to what happened. The findings of an internal investigation have not been disclosed. Is it possible this could happen again; that no explanation is given to a family? Yes, it could happen again.”

A Justice Department official said last night that legislation is being fast-tracked through government to substantially increase fines for not giving evidence or producing documents. The proposed Coroners (Amendment) Bill may also include the threat of imprisonment.

Ms Shields and Ms Callinan were stabbed to death in March 1997.

A few weeks later, a sometime homeless drug addict Dean Lyons was arrested and later charged with their murders. He had apparently made a confession.

That July, Mark Nash was arrested and questioned, and later convicted, about the murder of a couple in Roscommon.

While in custody he confessed to the murder of the two women and apparently the statement included details only known to gardaí and the murderer. He later retracted the statement.