Former scout leader due to face trial on rape charges died by suicide, inquest rules
Coroner Clare Keane returned a verdict of death by suicide at an inquest into the death of Mr Kearns at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, after hearing evidence that the collision was due to the result of 'driver input'.
A verdict of suicide has been recorded into the death of a former scout leader who was killed in a crash in South Dublin in 2024, a day before he was due to stand trial on multiple charges of raping and sexually assaulting young boys several decades ago.
Neville Kearns, 69, of Edenvale Apartments, Grange Rd, Rathfarnham, suffered fatal injuries when the Toyota Hiace van he was driving crashed into a tree on Churchtown Rd Upper, Dundrum, at around 6.15am on April 7, 2024.
Coroner Clare Keane returned a verdict of death by suicide at an inquest into the death of Mr Kearns at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, after hearing evidence that the collision was due to the result of "driver input".
The inquest heard the scene of the crash was “a location of significance” to Mr Kearns, as it was outside an apartment complex which was previously the site of a former scout den.
Detective Sergeant Barry O’Connor gave evidence of formally identifying Mr Kearns’s body at the mortuary of St Colmcille’s Hospital in Loughlinstown, Dublin.
He told the coroner that he knew the deceased from “significant interactions” he had with him prior to his death.
Vehicle inspector Garda David O’Brien, who examined the 02-reg Toyota Hiace owned by Mr Kearns, provided a deposition in which he concluded that the vehicle’s tyres were in good condition with no faults detected with its brakes. Garda O’Brien said the seat belt had not been in use.
Forensic collision investigator Garda John Culleton said the van had crossed the wrong side of the road before impacting with the tree, and it ended up in a perpendicular direction across the carriageway.
Garda Culleton said the crash had occurred on a straight road in daylight with dry road conditions and weather. He said there were no signs of braking on the road surface, and the damage to the vehicle was concentrated on the driver’s side.
The inquest heard the only causal factor to explain why the vehicle swerved into the tree in the absence of a mechanical fault was “driver input”. Mr Culleton explained that it would be due to either “a medical issue or a deliberate action”.
A paramedic with Dublin Fire Brigade, Peter Allen, said he noted that the deceased’s chest had collapsed and he had multiple fractures to his face after he was extracted from the vehicle. Mr Allen pronounced Mr Kearns dead at the scene of the collision at 6.34am.
Sergeant Robert Scott told the coroner that he had formed the view from his investigation into the circumstances of the crash that Mr Kearns had been “trying to get his affairs in order”. Mr Scott said the deceased’s last will and testament had been left in a position immediately visible on a table when entering his camper van.
He said there was also a letter in which Mr Kearns stated: “I’m so very tired of it all. I must bring closure to it all.”
Mr Scott explained to the coroner that there had been an active investigation ongoing at the time into Mr Kearns, and that he was due to face trial the following morning with over 100 charges pending.
He confirmed that Mr Kearns had no criminal convictions at the time of his death.
Mr Scott said other documents were found which showed that the deceased had paid for his funeral around the time that he had first been contacted by gardaí in 2020.
Mr Kearns’s niece, Biba van Belle, told the coroner that she had not spoken to her uncle for over 20 years, but had contacted gardaí after she found a letter among a pile of documents while clearing out his belongings in a garage.
Ms van Belle said her uncle had been living in a camper van at the Edenvale apartment complex, where he acted as a caretaker. She said the letter outlined what should happen in relation to the repair and administration of his camper van.
An associate of Mr Kearns, Norman Gray, gave evidence that he had been contacted by the deceased on the day before the crash to pass on a set of keys for a property in Wexford to another mutual associate, George Milligan.
Mr Gray said he thought it was funny as Mr Kearns only lived a few minutes away from Mr Milligan, but he did not sense there was anything out of order.
The inquest heard that both he and Mr Milligan went to gardaí after Mr Kearns failed to show up the following day when they all had arranged to meet at a café in Rathfarnham.
Mr Gray explained they were concerned about him, as it was completely out of character for Mr Kearns not to show up to an appointment, as he was “like a military man in terms of time”. In reply to questions from the coroner, Mr Gray said he had last seen Mr Kearns about a week earlier when there was nothing to indicate he had any worries or issues.
He added that Mr Kearns had looked more worried a few years earlier after the death of his dog.
Dr Keane said an autopsy showed the deceased had died as a result of multiple thoracic and musculoskeletal injuries consistent with a road traffic crash, while there was no evidence of any alcohol or drugs in his body.
Mr Kearns was due to go on trial at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on the day after the fatal crash, where he was facing 113 counts including charges of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault of five male victims in the 1980s and 1990s.
The deceased, who was set to mark his 70th birthday a week later, had denied all the allegations during interviews with gardaí.
When the case was listed for hearing, counsel for the DPP told the trial judge, Mr Justice Paul McDermott, that a nolle prosequi was being entered due to the death of the accused.
In an article in earlier this year, three of Mr Kearns’s victims described how they were targeted and groomed by Mr Kearns who assaulted them on camping trips as well as in their houses and his own family home.
The deceased, who was a former member of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland and who worked as a house master at St Joseph’s School for Deaf Boys in Cabra, established an independent youth group that was not linked to any scouting organisation.
Scouting Ireland claimed its records indicated that Mr Kearns ceased to be a member of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland in 1976.
Mr Kearns was described by one of his victims as “very charismatic, attractive, friendly”. The first formal complaint to gardaí about Mr Kearns was made in May 2019.
- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
