A MAN who was killed in a hit- and-run incident as he was training for the annual Ring of Kerry charity cycle near Killarney last July died instantaneously, the inquest into his death has heard.
The inquest opened briefly in Killarney yesterday and was adjourned to allow the Director of Public Prosecutions to finalise inquiries. Coroner Terence Casey, Garda Supt Flor Murphy and Pádraig O’Connell, a solicitor for the family of Paud O’Leary, a father of four, appealed strongly for information from anyone who could help identify the person responsible for Mr O’Leary’s death.
Mr O’Connell said Mr O’Leary’s widow, mother and siblings were “going through absolute turmoil”.
Mr Casey said “anybody out there who can be of any help to gardaí in finding the culprit” should come forward – anonymously, if they wished.
Mr O’Leary (42), a school caretaker and farmer, died after being knocked down as he cycled on the main Gneeveguilla-Killarney road, in the townland of Scrahanfadda near Gneeveguilla on July 1st.
Mr Casey said the DPP had not yet completed his investigation and he was opening the medical cause of death only at this stage.
The postmortem on July 2nd found Mr O’Leary had died of brain swelling, inner cerebral trauma and upper spinal cord injury, Mr Casey read from medical reports. Questioned by the family solicitor, Mr Casey said that from his reading of the medical report, “death was instantaneous”.
Mr O’Leary had been preparing for the Ring of Kerry charity cycle, in which he had taken part 11 times.