Mayo coroner rejects solicitor’s call for 'unlawful killing’ verdict at inquest

A coroner has returned a narrative verdict – where the factual circumstances of a person’s death are recorded - at an inquest into the death of 60-year-old Peter McDermott following an incident in Westport in the early hours of September 10, 2023

Mr. McDermott, who lived at Marino Lodge, Westport, sustained a traumatic brain injury after being struck in the face and propelled backwards onto the footpath outside The Clock Tavern at High Street.

Returning the narrative verdict at an inquest in Ballina, the coroner rejected a call by Damian Tansey, counsel for the deceased’s family, that she return a verdict of unlawful killing.

Vincent Connolly, a barman who lived at Cedar Hill, Westport, was cleared by a jury at the Circuit Criminal Court in Castlebar last year of a charge of manslaughter, unlawfully killing Mr. McDermott.

In making her determination at the inquest hearing in Ballina, Coroner Dr. Eleanor Fitzgerald said the verdict at the inquest cannot be inconsistent with the verdict handed down by the criminal court.

Mr. Tansey had earlier urged a verdict of unlawful killing if the coroner was satisfied that the punch which felled the deceased was an unlawful assault, that a reasonable person would see the punch as dangerous, carrying a risk of harm, and the punch caused the fall leading to the fatal head injury.

Fifteen witnesses in all gave evidence to Thursday’s inquest hearing, a number of them via video link.

Twenty-two relatives of Mr. McDermott, including his wife, Lorraine, and daughter, Croia, packed into Ballina Courthouse for the lengthy hearing.

Opposing Mr. Tansey’s request for a verdict of unlawful killing, solicitor Mr. Gary Mulchrone, who represented Vincent Connolly, said alcohol loomed large in what happened and Mr. McDermott’s own actions that night contributed significantly to what had happened.

State Pathologist Dr. Linda Mulligan said the deceased’s blood alcohol reading was 204 milligrams (mg) - more than four times the legal limit for driving.

Neither party to the incident knew each other, the inquest was told.

Video footage was played to the inquest which showed that initially the deceased pushed Vincent Connolly to the ground before Connolly got up and struck a single blow to the face, propelling the deceased backwards.

Vincent Connolly did not attend the inquest but a transcript of an interview he gave to gardaí subsequent to the incident was read into evidence by garda courts presenter Sergeant Noel Crinnegan.

In the interview, Mr. Connolly said he had left The Clock Tavern to go to Heneghan’s Pub with Mick Mulroy when a man he did not know “rugby tackled” him to the ground and he responded by striking the man a single blow to the face.

Mr. Connolly said the man who attacked him looked crazed and angry and he acted in self-defence.

At the conclusion of the inquest hearing, Mr. Tansey described Peter McDermott as ‘the classical successful Irish man who went abroad to make a living and then came home where he restored a house and provided his family with a good living’.

“Peter McDermott was a very nice man,” counsel continued. “He will live forever in the memory of his family.”

* Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.