GARDAÍ ARE to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions after two officers travelled to Botswana to investigate an alleged perjury by a witness at the inquest into the death of an Irishman who was found with his cut throat in a hospital in the southern African country.
Supt Pat McCarthy of Mallow Garda station confirmed that Insp Senan Ryan and Det Sgt Paul Reidy had travelled from Ireland to Botswana last weekend to interview Dr Shantani Mugoma about the death of Michael McGrath, from Knockagarry, Mitchelstown.
Mr McGrath (52), a father of five, was found with a deep laceration to his throat in the bathroom of his room at Palapye Primary Hospital in eastern Botswana on December 13th, 2006, after going to Botswana to attend the wedding of Dr Mugoma.
Mr McGrath, who owned properties in Cork, had gotten to know Dr Mugoma when he rented property to him while he studied medicine at University College Cork.
Supt McCarthy confirmed that gardaí were investigating an alleged perjury by Dr Mugoma at Mr McGrath’s inquest in Mallow on May 30th, 2007. Insp Ryan and Det Sgt Reidy had interviewed him in Botswana on Tuesday about his evidence in the inquest.
Dr Mugoma told the inquest that Mr McGrath was clinically depressed, had tried to throw himself from his car and tried to strangle himself with a belt, and was hospitalised at Palapye as a result.
The Garda officers had been accompanied at the interview by Botswanian police.
Mr McGrath’s brother Tom welcomed the news of the interview, saying he did not believe the doctor’s testimony at the inquest that his brother was clinically depressed and killed himself.
A postmortem was carried out in Botswana, but Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster carried out a second one after the body was returned to Ireland, at the request of his family. She said this was done on January 8th, 2007, and that it was difficult to interpret the cause of death due to the previous postmortem.
Dr Bolster told Mr McGrath’s inquest that Mr McGrath – who was right-handed – had a wound extending from his right jawline across his jugular vein to the left, which proved fatal due to shock and haemorrhage.
She said statements from the Botswanian police said the wound was self-inflicted, and while she had come across cases where a right-handed person had self-inflicted such a wound, she could not rule out the possibility that another party was involved in the death.
Coroner for North Cork, Dr Michael Kennedy, said an inquest has to prove that it was suicide beyond all reasonable doubt, but, as the inquest did not have access to the hospital records in Botswana, he recorded an open verdict.