An Garda Síochána expects to send a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) within two to three months in connection with the fatal stabbing of a man in west Dublin in January, an inquest has heard.
Kevin Walsh (35), from Tallaght, died at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown on January 7th from injuries he sustained in an attack earlier that day. Gardaí and emergency services had earlier treated him after he was found with serious injuries in an apartment in the Shackleton estate in Lucan.
A brief sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday heard that Mr Walsh died as a result of haemorrhage and shock following a stab wound to the abdomen. Coroner Dr Cróna Gallagher formally recorded the cause of death for the purposes of releasing a death certificate to the Walsh family.
Insp Niamh Buckley told the court that criminal proceedings were being considered over Mr Walsh’s death and that gardaí expect to have a file with the DPP within two to three months. She confirmed to the coroner that no one has been charged in relation to Mr Walsh’s death.
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Following an application from Insp Buckley, Dr Gallagher granted an adjournment of the case for six months, under section 25 of the Coroner’s Act.
Lisa McCabe, a sister of Mr Walsh’s, gave brief evidence relating to the identification of Mr Walsh following his death at Connolly Hospital. In her deposition, which was read in to the court record, Ms McCabe said her brother had surgery following his admission to the hospital on January 7th. She was informed by a surgeon later that evening that he had died. Ms McCabe later identified her brother’s body to Garda Laura Tully of Ronanstown Garda station.
In her deposition, Garda Tully said she identified the body of Mr Walsh to State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster a day after his death.
Dr Gallagher expressed the sympathies of the court to Mr Walsh’s family.
In May, three people – two women (both 40s) and one man (30s) – were arrested in connection with the stabbing of Mr Walsh. While it is suspected that he was assaulted in an apartment in the Shackleton estate, gardaí have not ruled out the possibility that he was attacked elsewhere.
Detectives believe Mr Walsh took a taxi from Allentown, Tallaght to the Shackleton area in the early hours of the morning and have not ruled out the possibility that he had been stabbed beforehand.
Mr Walsh was well known to gardaí and had previously served a number of prison sentences, including for killing a man in a fight when he was a teenager.
Mr Walsh, then of Allenton Green, Tallaght, was 16 when he killed James Burke between September 22nd and 26th, 2005 at the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, Clondalkin. They had gone to a field to drink cans when Mr Burke, who was British, was fatally assaulted. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in St Patrick’s Institution, with the final five years suspended.
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