Father drowned his daughter and self, inquest told

At the start of yesterday’s inquest into the deaths of Martin McCarthy and his daughter Clarissa, coroner Frank O’Connell warned that “the atmosphere could get a little uncomfortable”. He was talking about the stuffy heat in the crowded room, but he was right in more ways than one

Here unfolded a sad and emotionally wrenching tableau of a family ripped asunder for reasons nobody can fathom, of a community struggling to come to grips with an unspeakable event. Even the facts as outlined by witnesses in Bantry Town Hall yesterday could not give everyone the answers they wanted.

Mr O’Connell heard how events unfolded on the night of March 5, 2013, and into the early hours of the following day: How Martin McCarthy, a 50-year-old farmer from Foilnamuck near Ballydehob, West Cork, and his 3-year-old daughter Clarissa died in the water close to the family home.