Matthew Fitzpatrick died in Germany in 2010. The authorities insist he killed himself. The facts suggest otherwise, writes JOHN WATERS
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM holds that, because Ireland is a member of the European Union, Irish citizens in other EU countries have the same rights as at home. The following story suggests otherwise. It is the story of a death in a foreign country, its subtext seeming to speak about the true nature of the relationship between Ireland and that country, allegedly a “partner” country.
The other day I met Stephen Fitzpatrick, from Portumna in Co Galway, who told me the dreadful and troubling story of his brother’s death.
Matthew Fitzpatrick died on December 11th, 2010, in Mannheim, Germany, aged 34. The German authorities insist that he killed himself. The facts suggest otherwise.
Matthew was working in Germany for a company based in Fermoy, Co Cork. His family says that, at the time of his death, he was planning to return to Ireland for Christmas and had already bought his Christmas presents.
The police investigators in Mannheim closed the case on December 22nd, 2010, stating that Matthew’s death was self-inflicted, this having been the conclusion of an autopsy conducted in Mannheim a week earlier.
On the return of Matthew’s body to Ireland, however, another autopsy, conducted on December 18th by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Khalid Jabbar, noted no less than 35 unaccounted injuries on Matthew’s body. These included: a blunt force trauma to the back of the head; numerous contusions and abrasions to face and body; a severe injury to the lower back, consistent with blunt force trauma; and neck injuries, including a fracture to the neck bone associated with forceful ligature strangulation. Both autopsies concluded that death occurred by strangulation.
The Irish autopsy found that most of Matthew’s injuries were defensive and could not have been self-inflicted. Dr Jabber informed the coroner that the head injury might have rendered Matthew unconscious for sufficient time for strangulation to be inflicted. The German autopsy report did not refer to a head injury at all.
On April 22nd, a jury at the Dublin Coroner’s Court returned an open verdict on Matthew’s death. In addition to the medical evidence, there are myriad suspicious circumstances in the case, some of which cannot be reported for legal reasons.
Two months before he died, Matthew ended a nine-year relationship with a German woman, who had lived with him until approximately that time.
She then moved out of their apartment, but had moved back in shortly before Matthew’s death. Just before his death, Matthew is believed to have been in a relationship with a married woman, the wife of an Irishman living in Mannheim.
Stephen Fitzpatrick tells me that, shortly after the break-up of this long-term relationship, Matthew’s ex-girlfriend had followed him one evening and observed him with this woman, and that the woman’s husband was informed of this relationship and had made a number of pointed contacts with Matthew.
On the night of Friday December 10th, 2010, Matthew sent two texts to a friend stating where he and his ex-girlfriend were out for a meal together. It appears that they parted and that, at 11.50pm, Matthew texted his ex-girlfriend requesting that she return to him her key to their apartment. In the early hours of Saturday, December 11th, neighbours within the complex where the couple resided heard noises and voices – a woman crying, unidentified male voices and what they described as “dull thuds” – from Matthew’s apartment.
The next morning, Matthew was found dead in the apartment. The woman who found the body claimed she discovered Matthew hanging from a door. Medical evidence, however, suggests that the pattern of livor mortis in the body was consistent with it having lain on the ground, back down, in the period immediately after death. Death was estimated to have occurred between 6am and 7am
It was 32 hours after the finding of Matthew’s body that his ex-girlfriend’s brother telephoned one of Matthew’s brothers and informed him that Matthew had killed himself. That was the sole communication the family received about Matthew’s death. To this day, his parents, both in their seventies, have received no contact from the German authorities.
Two of Matthew’s brothers travelled to Mannheim on December 13th. They were permitted to view Matthew’s body through a glass window, and had a 50-minute meeting with police officers who indicated that their investigations were concluded.
Despite the overwhelming medical evidence, the German authorities have refused to reopen the investigation. The family believes that this may be down to indifference because Matthew was a foreigner, or something more sinister. They have been informed by An Garda Siochána that the Mannheim police are insisting that the family must go through a legal process to gain access to the file. They have also been told that records of the case will be destroyed a year after Matthew’s death.
The Fitzpatricks have been lobbying Irish politicians with a view to persuading the German authorities. Last month, the case was discussed in the Dáil, and Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore said that he was taking a “personal” interest in it.
To date, however, the Fitzpatricks have been unsuccessful in their attempts to arrange a meeting with him.