Mother’s warning after son’s Canaries death

Louise Hogan

Dr Maeve Pomeroy warned other tourists could be at risk because of the local force's incompetence. She vowed to go to the European Convention of Human Rights to get justice for her son, Daniel O'Callaghan, 24, from Rathmines in Dublin.

Mr O'Callaghan died on May 15, 2003, from head injuries he received two weeks earlier when he was chased up a laneway in Gran Canaria.

The Dublin City Coroner's Court, which passed a verdict of unlawful killing by person or persons unknown, heard from Chief Supt Noel White of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigations that Spanish police had not followed proper procedures and no one had been arrested.

"The only effective police investigation carried out in this case was by the Irish police in Ireland," Dr Pomeroy said.

"We feel if a crime has been committed and there is no investigation and punishment of that crime, then other young tourists could be at risk."

Mr O'Callaghan received serious head injuries at around 4am on Sunday April 27, 2003 the day after he arrived for a week's holiday in Playa del Ingles in the lane beside the Greenfield apartment block where he was staying.

Spanish police initially pursued it as a fatal hit-and- run. The lane in which Mr O'Callaghan was found unconscious was not sealed off and no forensic investigation took place.

The inquest heard police failed to interview any people in the two hotels overlooking the lane, which Dr Pomeroy said held up to 200 potential witnesses.

One witness later found by gardaí, James Jeffers, said he saw a man running up the lane at around 4am, who he later found out was Mr O'Callaghan. He was being pursued by a man "with his arm stretched out and he appeared to have something in his hand".

Mr Jeffers said that man was within "striking distance" of Mr O'Callaghan.

"I heard what sounded like a shot being fired, I didn't see a gun or a flash. When I heard the thud, the first man fell, he hit the ground hard." Mr Jeffers did not see him being hit.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, who carried out a full autopsy, found he died from head injuries consistent with an accelerated fall forwards and that he was probably intoxicated at the time. She did not rule out that Mr O'Callaghan's fall was assisted through a blow or a push.

There was no evidence of gunshots. The three friends with whom he travelled, Keith Martin, Paul Perry and Darren Staunton, said they had arrived on the island earlier that night and gone for food.

The four had been drinking heavily. The last time they saw Daniel was about an hour before he was assaulted.

The coroner said the inquest's findings might encourage the Spanish Authorities to "re-examine the circumstances".

He called upon anyone with any information to come forward.