Wayne O'Donoghue, who was convicted of the manslaughter of Cork schoolboy Robert Holohan, will not be summonsed to attend the inquest into the boy's death next month.
Coroner for south Cork Frank O'Connell told The Irish Times he had not summonsed O'Donoghue to the inquest, which is scheduled for hearing at Midleton Courthouse on September 12th.
O'Donoghue was acquitted of Robert's murder at the Central Criminal Court last December, but he pleaded guilty to and was convicted of the boy's manslaughter at Ballyedmond on January 4th, 2005.
O'Donoghue was sentenced to four years for the killing, but during the sentencing hearing, Robert's mother, Majella Holohan, raised questions during her victim impact statement about how her son had died and why semen was found on his body.
Immediately after O'Donoghue was sentenced, his solicitor, Frank Buttimer, strongly denied any suggestion of sexual impropriety by his client in relation to Robert Holohan.
O'Donoghue never took the stand during his trial, and following his sentencing, there was some media speculation that he might be summonsed to attend the inquest.
But Mr O'Connell confirmed yesterday that he will be opening the inquest to allow identification evidence and medical evidence to be heard before gardaí apply to have it adjourned generally.
"What I envisage is that we will hear evidence of identification and a general outline of events from Det Sgt Brian Goulding and then medical evidence from the State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, on the cause of Robert's death," he said.
Mr O'Connell said he expected Dr Cassidy's evidence would involve a "fairly full exploration" of medical matters as he understood that Robert's parents may have some questions for Dr Cassidy regarding injuries suffered by their son.
Mr O'Connell said gardaí had indicated to him that they would apply to have the inquest adjourned under Section 25 (1) of the Coroners Act because of ongoing criminal proceedings. He expected that he would be acceding to that request.
He said he could not predict what would happen upon adjourning the inquest generally, but it tended to be the case that such inquests were not reopened as the issues regarding the death were subsequently explored fully in the criminal proceedings, he said.
O'Donoghue's sentence, imposed by Mr Justice Paul Carney, was appealed by the DPP. Both sides presented their arguments on the matter at the Court of Criminal Appeal in July.
The three-judge court, under Ms Justice Mella Carroll, reserved its judgment. A decision is expected sometime in October.