An inquest into the death of a former Limerick city councillor has heard how he described being shot while being taken to hospital in an ambulance.
Michael Kelly (48) died a month after he suffered a bullet wound to his head on May 14th, 2004 at his mother's home in Lilac Court, Keyes Park, Limerick.
A self-confessed criminal, the father of five topped the poll in Limerick city in 1998 when he contested the local elections.
Since his death the late alderman's family has continued to insist that he was murdered and they have strongly rejected any suggestion that he may have taken his own life. They even had his body exhumed in a bid to refute one newspaper claim that he had been buried with a gun in his coffin. A Garda investigation into his death did not result in any charges.
The inquest jury heard that while being taken to hospital he was conscious. Garda Diarmuid Clounan, who was in the ambulance said that he heard Mr Kelly say that a thin man of about five feet in height had shot him at close range with a hand gun. The inquest heard Mr Kelly had a history of heart trouble. State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy concluded that the cause of death was a heart attack, and a contributory factor was the gunshot wound to his head. She said she could not exclude the possibility that the gunshot was self-inflicted. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.