Woman seeks to halt inquest into death of daughter by hanging

THE HIGH Court has reserved judgment on an action aimed at halting the inquest into the death of a young woman on grounds of alleged prejudgment by the coroner as to the cause of her death.

It is claimed that Dublin County Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty has prejudged the cause of Pamela Martin’s death as suicide when, her family claim, there were suspicious circumstances which gardaí failed to properly investigate.

The family say Ms Martin (23) was found hanging from a door in her home less than an hour after an argument was allegedly overheard there. Among their concerns is that the scene of death was not forensically examined until 22 days later.

Dr Geraghty has denied prejudgment and insists he retains an open mind as to the cause of death.

The hearing of judicial review proceedings brought by her mother Martha Martin, concluded yesterday before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy who reserved judgment and said he hoped to give a decision quickly.

Ms Martin, Old County Road, Crumlin, claims Dr Geraghty has “closed his mind” as to suicide being the cause of the death of her daughter, a young mother of three, in 2004.

Ms Martin claims there were suspicious circumstances surrounding the death, there was no proper Garda investigation and the scene was not forensically examined until 22 days later. She also claims the manner of her daughter’s alleged suicide makes no sense and she has further alleged a history of violence against her daughter by her daughter’s partner, Michael Fagan.

In the proceedings, Ms Martin is seeking orders and declarations from the court including that the conduct of the inquest breaches her constitutional rights.

In opposing the action, Dr Geraghty denies he has prejudged or formed a view on the outcome of the inquest.

The judicial review hearing opened last July and was adjourned to allow further affidavits to be submitted. Final submissions by Alan Toal, for Ms Martin, and Stephen Byrne, for Dr Geraghty, were made yesterday.

In his arguments, Mr Byrne said Ms Martin had failed to make out a case of prejudgment or bias on the coroner’s part. Dr Geraghty had allowed various adjournments sought by the family and also granted applications for discovery of documents. There was nothing in his conduct to support the claims that he had a closed mind and the inquest would also be conducted before a jury with full and fair procedures.

Mr Toal said it was not open to Mr Byrne to argue now that any mischief on the part of the coroner could be corrected by a jury. The coroner could also not rely on affidavits by a garda whom the family contended had failed to properly investigate Pamela’s death.

Mr Toal also said that, when a person died as a result of hanging, one expected to find the presence of a particular type of haemorrhage but this was not there in Pamela’s case.

The death was not investigated in the manner one would expect, Mr Toal added.