Waterford family seek answers over sibling's morgue delay
The family of Jamie Weldon. He was found dead in his apartment in Dublin on August 19, 2023. Pictured are his brothers and sisters Billy, Monica, Frances, Fiona and Sean from Butlerstown, Co. Waterford. Picture: Patrick Browne
The family of a Waterford man whose body lay in the mortuary for 27 days has met with representatives of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) about the Garda handling of the case.
The body of Jamie Weldon, originally from Butlerstown in Waterford, was found in his Iveagh Trust apartment on Upper Kevin Street in Dublin on August 19 last year — on what would have been his 57th birthday.
His six siblings only discovered, after making a welfare check request on August 25, that remains believed to be that of their brother were in the Dublin City Morgue.
They were made aware of this just 25 minutes after requesting the welfare check, shortly after midnight on August 26.
The family now wants answers on why Jamie's siblings were not notified of the remains in the morgue until after they made the welfare check request.
Because he had been dead for some time before his body was discovered on August 19, the family was told the body was unviewable and a DNA match was necessary to prove his identity.
One of his brothers provided a DNA sample at Kevin Street Garda Station on August 29.
His remains were finally released to his family on September 15.
In February, the family had filed a complaint with Gsoc about the delay between the discovery of Jamie’s body and informing his family that remains of a person believed to be Jamie were in Dublin City Morgue.
A Garda spokesman has previously outlined to the that extensive inquiries were conducted by gardaí in Kevin Street to identify a next-of-kin subsequent to the discovery of the body, “including checking against missing person records, which eventually resulted in the potential identification of the deceased”.
That identification subsequently needed to be confirmed by DNA analysis, according to gardaí.
The Garda also say: “In general terms, each case is different and the circumstances of the discovery of the body may not always make it possible for an immediate and direct identification of the deceased, particularly in cases where the remains have not been discovered for a period of time and where limited personal information is available at the scene.”
In January, the family made a statement to gardaí about the disappearance of Jamie's keys and cards as they cannot be located in his apartment and were not on him when his body was removed to the morgue for an autopsy.
He used his social welfare card on July 28 — also the date of his last interaction with anyone online.
It is believed he died by suicide over the next number of days, although an exact date of death has not yet been established.
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