Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Meath inquests proceed without families present


A backlog of inquests in Co Meath created by the Cocvis-19 crisis in Trim today was dealt with when 10 inquests were conducted by the county coroner Nathaniel Lacy.

The last previous inquests to be held took place at Our Lady’s Hospital Navan on 27th of February and today’s inquests were transferred to Trim Courthouse to conform with Government guidelines on social distancing. Just five people were present including the coroner and his assistant, two Gardai and a press representative and Mr Lacy said that the inquests were conducted by documentation only and that the families had all waived their right to be present and had agreed that the process could proceed in their absence.

Nine of the inquests dated back to occasions last year and one case went back to 2017. In each case, Inspector Alan Brady read out witnesses’ depositions while the coroner’s assistant read out post mortem results compiled by a pathologist. Verdicts of suicide were recorded in eight of the cases, one death was related to pneumonia and alcohol misuse while one was related to alcohol misuse solely. The coroner said he would continue to deal with a backlog of cases in the coming weeks.




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