Family of man shot dead disappointed that accused man died before trial

Deirdre Coakley with Siobhan Coakley, daughter and wife of the late Derry Coakley. File picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Cork Courts

The family of a man shot dead in Macroom two years ago, has expressed their disappointment that the man accused of his murder has died before he could be put on trial.

“I just don’t know how the process is so slow,” said Deirdre Coakley, 22, whose father Derry bled to death after he was shot in the left arm when working at a site at Curraheen, Raleigh North just outside Macroom town. "It was so clear cut. 

I just don’t know how it wasn’t brought to trial quicker.

Gerard Lynch from Curraheen, Raleigh North died before he could be tried on a murder charge over the killing.

In court Monday, the prosecution senior counsel said that Mr Lynch passed away on August 21 and that was entering a nolle prosequi. 

Ms Coakley said she did not feel she had got justice for her father even though she agreed with the DPP’s decision to refuse a manslaughter plea in May as she believed her father had been murdered.

“It was murder. I didn’t want anything less. Manslaughter doesn’t even begin to cover what he did to my dad,” she said.

“Nothing was ever going to bring my dad back but having that ruling [a murder verdict] would have been nice. He didn’t deserve this. I feel no one knows now, it feels like someone has just pulled a black sheet over it and that’s it. 

"My dad was my rock. He was the best father I could ever have had. Sometimes people forget and they move on with their lives and they are allowed to get on with things but we are stuck.

“He always told me to walk away from a fight. If I ever fell out with somebody, he would say ‘Do you know the best thing you can do now is walk away’ so for this to happen, it was definitely unprovoked because he walked away.”